Cape Town - A 19-year-old Manenberg woman has been gang raped after she was caught walking in Hard Livings’ “territory”.
The woman lives in Scheldt Road, which is considered by gang members to be the territory of the Americans, the Hard Livings’ rivals. The woman was attacked in Thames Avenue, said to be Hard Livings’ turf.
Police spokesman Captain FC van Wyk confirmed the attack happened on Monday at about 4am. He said the woman was on her way to buy Mandrax when two men robbed her of her money. Another four dragged her behind a flight of stairs.
“They held a gun to her head while they raped her and then let her go, warning her not tell anyone. As she was walking, the men fired several shots in her direction,” Van Wyk said.
A neighbour, returning home from dropping her grandchildren at school, said the teen called out to her from a police vehicle.
“A policewoman was with her in the car; she stopped and asked if I knew her. The girl was in tears in the back, with her head covered with a yellow towel. She lifted the towel and asked me to tell her mother that she’d been raped,” said the neighbour.
Her mother, who like her daughter cannot be named, said she thought her daughter was sleeping at her friend’s home in Storms Way, a road away from Thames Avenue.
She knew about her daughter’s addiction - she had just returned from two months in rehab. She said her daughter was the second to be raped in a family of six girls.
Her mother said living in Manenberg was a horror. “We don’t even know these gangs, but we are told we live in the Americans side. What is worse is that these young boys sitting outside here are their spies. It frustrates me and makes me really angry.”
When the Cape Argus visited their home on Tuesday, the family were hesitant to talk about the rape, saying they feared they could be targeted.
They said the daughter had been taken to GF Jooste Hospital for treatment and was in police protection. The police could not confirm this, but did say three men had been arrested.
A source close to the police told the Cape Argus that gangsters targeting women from areas seen as rival gangs’ territory had happened before.
A resident confirmed this, saying she had first read about it in the newspaper and then heard people talking about it.
“We are scared for our children. I can’t sleep probably because I worry about this. I’m on sleeping tablets now.”
Cape Argus