Johannesburg - On a normal day and a normal taxi ride, things would have been all right for Lesego Tshitse.
She was the only passenger on the taxi at the Moroka North rank on Friday, on her way to a Silverstar Casino work assignment. And when the driver veered left, she thought he was maybe taking a detour to get to the other side of the Baragwanath taxi rank.
But the driver kept on driving. The 30-year-old Molapo resident said she does not remember where he stopped, but she remembers areas they passed through. First Emndeni, then Naledi. “After that, it’s just a blur,” she said.
The attack is one of the latest in a series of sexual assaults and rapes in taxis that have plagued the greater Johannesburg area.
“It feels like a movie,” she told The Star, breaking into tears. “You read about these things. You hear about these things. You just never think it’ll happen to you.”
Tshitse said the man drove in such a way that she wouldn’t be able to identify where she was. When he finally stopped, he jumped from the driver’s seat to where she was and dragged her to a nearby shack, tearing her clothes in the process.
At the shack, the man had his hand around her throat, as if he was strangling her. He unbuckled her pants, ripped her stockings and slid his fingers into her nether regions. At one point, he brandished a knife, which she grabbed, scarring her left palm.
Eventually, the man locked her in the shack and took off, leaving his taxi behind. No penetration occurred, she said.
When she escaped from the shack through a window, she found that her belongings were still there. For her, it was clear what the man’s intentions were, to either rape or kill her.
“He left the taxi there and I didn’t even think of taking the registration. I just ran,” she said. The only thing she grabbed was her bag, which had her passport.
Police spokesperson Captain Phephi Matlou-Mteto confirmed that a case of kidnapping had been opened at Diepkloof police station, and it was still being investigated. No suspects have been arrested.
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