Raped paramedic ‘not the same’

File picture - Two men who raped two paramedics have been handed eight life sentences each. Photo: Thobeka Zazi Ndabula

File picture - Two men who raped two paramedics have been handed eight life sentences each. Photo: Thobeka Zazi Ndabula

Published Jul 17, 2012

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Johannesburg - Life is not the same for a female paramedic who was raped while attending to a burnt toddler in March 2010, a judge said in the High Court in Johannesburg on Tuesday.

Judge Sharise Erica Weiner was delivering her judgment in the trial of Richard Tshifhiwa Luruli, 29, and Michael Khorombi, 30, who are accused of raping the paramedic and of trying to rape a second female paramedic.

“They were willing to serve the community freely and had never panicked when they attended emergency calls,” said Weiner.

“They now have to call the police to accompany them to emergency calls.... This has affected their work negatively.”

Luruli and Khorombi face 15 counts including rape, assault with intent to do grievous bodily harm, robbery, possession of a firearm and compelling another to perform a sexual assault.

They allegedly attacked four paramedics on their arrival in Durban Deep, Roodepoort, to help the toddler. They are accused of threatening to shoot the two male paramedics and telling them to run away, then raping one of the women and trying to rape the other.

Weiner said the women were no longer the same people.

Their private lives had been greatly affected. One of them had been served divorce papers by her husband. The other woman and her husband had to undergo counselling, she said.

A third victim was a male passerby who was forced to perform sexual acts on one of the women. He had told the court he pretended to rape her.

Judgment continues on Wednesday. - Sapa

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