Cape Town - The 49-year-old man accused of raping a five-year-old girl couldn’t take part in an identity parade because he was beaten in police holding cells.
This was revealed on Wednesday when the accused made a brief appearance in the Mitchells Plain Magistrates’ Court.
The little girl was lured away from her house in Rocklands, Mitchells Plain on Sunday 20 August, by a man who promised to buy her a fidget spinner.
The man took her to a nearby bush at Kapteinsklip train station and raped her before he was caught by a passer-by who chased him off.
The shocked resident flagged down Law Enforcement officers, who took the girl to the Mitchells Plain Police Station.
There the brave little girl identified the suspect, who is known to her family, to cops and he was arrested at his house in Tafelsig.
The identity parade was supposed to take place last week, but this did not happen, said State Prosecutor Nuria Jacobs.
“The accused couldn’t do the identity parade due to his face being damaged when he was assaulted in the Mitchells Plain police cells, and also because there weren’t people who look similar to the accused to take part in the identity parade,” she explained.
Magistrate Alvira Bezuidenhoud postponed the case to 13 September.
Outside court, family and residents, supported by the Mitchells Plain Crisis Forum and the Barefoot Campaign, picketed for bail to be denied to the accused.
The victim’s 48-year-old grandmother told the Daily Voice that the child was doing well but gets emotional when officials appear.
“She would play all day but when she sees the detectives or social workers arrive at our home, she gets quiet and scared,” the ouma says.
“The family of the accused are very concerned about her and they regularly pop in to ask how we are doing. We aren’t angry at them and we won’t hold this against them.”