Pretoria - A mother cried bitterly as she told the North Gauteng High Court how the same man who had raped her also sexually molested her two teenage daughters.
The woman took the stand in the rape, assault and robbery trial of two Zimbabwean nationals - Howard Sekani, 28, and Progress Shoko, 25.
The two are accused of being part of a gang of about five men who broke into a family’s Rayton home, north of Pretoria, in March 2011 and subjected them to a nightmare ordeal.
The mother this week described how she was raped by one of the accused, who she identified in court as being Shoko. Her two daughters, the youngest of whom is now in matric, claimed they were subjected to sexual abuse by the same man.
While the mother described how she was raped by Shoko, the children said he inserted his fingers into their private parts. In terms of legislation, this act is considered rape.
The 37-year-old mother burst into tears and was so upset while testifying about her children’s ordeal that Judge Tshifiwa Maumela offered to adjourn the proceedings for a while. But she chose to continue giving evidence.
She told how she and her children were overpowered when they arrived home on the evening of the attack. They were tied up, slapped, kicked and punched, while the group demanded money and wanted to know where the safe was.
One of her daughters was punched in the face when she told the robbers that they did not have money or a safe in the house.
The woman said she clearly saw two of their attackers as one was the man who raped her and her daughters, and the other kept a constant watch over them while holding a firearm. The rapist, she said, was the “small one” (Shoko) and the other the scar-faced man (Sekani).
They are the only alleged members of the gang to have been apprehended.
The court heard how Sekani kept watch over the tied-up children in the lounge, while she was raped in her bedroom while also being tied up.
The woman said her rapist later escorted her back to the lounge, where the men again demanded money.
They became aggressive and threatened to burn the family members, who were lying on the ground, with cigarettes and an iron if they did not hand over money.
“The smaller man came towards me with my electric hairbrush and threatened to push it into my vagina. He then stomped on my stomach and kicked me.”
The mother said that after everything fell silent in the house and they suspected the robbers had left, one of her children managed to untie herself and the others. They sounded the alarm, and the security company came to their rescue.
Pretoria News