Johannesburg - The black marks all over his body and the gashes on his head speak of a horrifying tale.
The 21-year-old from Greenfield, Thokoza, in Ekurhuleni, is one of six siblings who were allegedly locked in their home for many years by their father.
Angry residents said this week that the father kept the siblings as prisoners.
A 15-year-old daughter has told police he raped her continuously over the years and threatened to kill her if she told anyone.
On Thursday, police spokesman Captain Mega Ndobe said a doctor had examined the girl and confirmed she had been raped.
The siblings were freed on Sunday after members of the community had enough and destroyed the palisade wall surrounding the house.
Witnesses said the man had accused a teenage boy of knocking at his gate and, enraged, he had tried to stab the youth with a knife.
As the man tried to stab the boy, Yalezwa Sizeke, who was coming from church, rushed to his aid, blocking the knife with her right hand, and was cut in the process.
Stymied, the alleged assailant rushed back to his house and shut the prison-like gate of his home, witnesses said.
The house is small, with a palisade fence topped by barbed wire. There is a large wooden gate in the front and a big latch completes the picture. The security gates of the main house are also covered in barbed wire.
The neighbours called the police, and the man – a former soldier – was arrested.
His children told the neighbours their heartbreaking story.
“This was a blessing in disguise. I was just trying to save the little boy’s life when I intervened,” said Sizeke. “I didn’t know that this was going to open a can of worms. I had no idea that he had kept his own children as prisoners in his house for many years.”
The neighbours said the children were held captive and were not allowed to mingle with others. They said they were locked in at night behind the main house in a filthy two-room shack used to store tools and old, unused items. Some of the children slept on the floor, others on a tattered single bed.
The neighbours said the children were not allowed to go beyond the gate and were beaten if they tried to do so.
The 21-year-old said his father never allowed him to attend school. The man had tied him up with a rope and assaulted him with a hard object if he ventured out of the gate.
Visibly terrified, the young man said that if his father came back, he would run away.
“I have suffered enough. Look at the marks all over my body. This man is cruel. He used to throttle me, that is why I have marks on my neck. I would rather die than live with that evil man again. I want him to rot in jail,” he said.
Ndobe said the man was facing charges of assault and rape.
The Star