Her attacker was at first exceptionally friendly and polite when he arranged “for her to get a job”, but he later pulled her into the bush, threatened to cut off her breasts and body parts and sexually assaulted her before extorting money from her family in return for her safe return to them.
This was the evidence of yet another alleged victim of Ishmael Simelane, 27, of Hammanskraal. He is facing 25 charges in the Pretoria High Court, including rape, sexual assault, abduction, extortion and robbery.
The small-built man pleaded not guilty to the charges, but the seven women who claimed they fell prey to this “smooth talker” were adamant that he was their attacker.
The women all had more or less the same tale to tell – how they fell for Simelane’s polite behaviour as he “obtained work” for them. They all believed the well-dressed man as he approached them with a job offer. All of them told Judge Jody Kollapen that their lives turned into a nightmare after they fell for this scam.
While some of the women were raped – some more than once – others were sexually assaulted. In nearly all of the cases their attacker took their cellphones and phoned their family members to demand a ransom for their safe return.
One woman testified earlier how she was locked up in a room for two days, while repeatedly being raped by her attacker. When she was not subjected to the rape, she was tied up and stuffed into a cupboard, until the police eventually managed to track her down.
The attacks occurred between February and June last year. The man identified as being the accused apparently mainly met his victims in the centre of Pretoria, after which he took them to Mabopane and other areas in the north of the city, where they were attacked.
A 26-year-old woman told the court yesterday that although she worked at a fast food outlet at the time, she had sent out her CV to various companies. She received a call out of the blue from a man who identified himself as Ishmael and told her he would arrange a job for her at Home Affairs.
She met him near the library in the city centre the next day and he told her she had the job, but they had to travel to Mabopane by taxi to finalise the paperwork.
The woman said he was extremely polite and helpful and she was so happy to have the prospect of a new, better paying job, that she did not question him. However, she became suspicious when they walked into the bushes.
At one stage, he picked up an empty bottle and told her he was going to protect her, as there were many “tsotsis around”.
He suddenly turned aggressive. She said he broke the bottle and threatened to cut off her body parts and breasts, unless she gave him money.
“He also ordered me to undress and he climbed on top of me.”
The woman was not raped, but he then bound her hands and legs together with cable ties. He also phoned her mother and sister and demanded that they pay R1 000 into her bank account.
The court was told that the man then left and the woman untied herself and escaped.
“This whole thing affected me terribly. I battled to eat and to sleep afterwards, because I kept on thinking about him.”
Proceeding. - Pretoria News