Five men have been arrested after tenants at a Phoenix house were allegedly held up in their home and one of them, a single mother, was forced to perform sexual acts on them.
The traumatised 27-year-old woman believes the Sunday morning ordeal was a revenge attack.
She told POST the men were known to her.
She said she lived in the home with her 3-year-old son, the homeowner and other tenants – a young couple and their 3-year-old daughter.
“On the morning of the incident the homeowner was away and my son had stayed over at my sister’s home. I was alone with the tenants. Around 2am I heard a loud bang at the door and we all woke up. The male tenant shouted out, ‘Who is it?’ A man responded saying he came looking for the homeowner and if we did not open the door he would shoot us. The woman said that out of fear the tenant opened the door.
“The man came into the house. He locked me, the tenant’s wife and the baby in one room and took the husband into the bathroom where he threatened to kill him. I think he was asking for money. After a few minutes the man came back into the room and asked the tenant who we were.”
She said he ordered the tenant to stay with his family in the room. “Then he grabbed me by the arm and took me to my bedroom. Another man came in and closed the door half way. The first guy told me he came to finished what he started and to take his revenge. The second man left the room. I was very scared and was certain he was going to rape me.”
She said she became terrified when he asked her to perform a sexual act on him.
“I refused and he started assaulting me, saying that he had a gun and would blow my kneecaps off, find my son and kill him. I had no choice but to do it.”
“When he was done he… dragged me by my hair to the back door. He called the tenant and told him this was payback because on another occasion the tenant’s wife told him the homeowner was not at home.”
She claimed she was then stripped naked and made to walk to the side of the house where other men were waiting. “I was terrified and pretended to feel ill and fall. He (the first assailant) grabbed me and took me back to the house. I put my clothes back on and ran into a bedroom and shut the door.”
She said he came after her and again made her perform a sexual act on him. When he was done he locked her in the room, only to return with another man, then another. Each time she was allegedly made to carry out the same acts.
“When the third man was done they left in a grey BMW. I was shattered and immediately contacted my sister who called the police.”
She said police arrived within minutes and so did the homeowner.
The homeowner said he was shocked. “As I was coming to the house I saw them (the suspects) and they greeted me. I did not know what had happened. I was never confrontational with them.” He took police to their homes and they were arrested.
Police spokeswoman Lieutenant Nqobile Gwala said the suspects had allegedly taken R1 200 and a cellphone.
“Five suspects were later arrested and detained,” she said. They appeared in the Verulam Magistrate’s Court yesterday (Tuesday) on charges of rape and house robbery. They were remanded in police custody.