Woman found naked, drugged at the side of a road in Verulam

Durban - A woman was found naked on the side of the road on Sunday morning after she had been drugged and raped, allegedly by three men who had offered her a lift when she was returning to Verulam from Durban on Saturday night.

A passer-by drove the woman to the Reaction Unit SA (Rusa) offices, where she was assessed by paramedics before being taken to the Verulam SAPS to report the crime.

Rusa’s spokesperson, Prem Balram, said the victim said that she had been returning from Durban just before midnight.

Balram said the woman was waiting for transport at the Verulam bus rank to travel to Cottonlands, when three men in a white Toyota Tazz offered her a lift.

“After getting into the vehicle, she was offered an alcoholic beverage which she consumed.

“The woman has little recollection of events that occurred after she consumed the drink, but she remembers being taken to a home in Ndwedwe where she was raped and robbed.

“She was later dumped on the side of the road. When she woke up in the morning, she found herself naked,” said Balram. Her clothes were found several metres from where she lay.

KwaZulu-Natal police spokesperson Captain Nqobile

Gwala confirmed that a case of rape had been opened at the Verulam police station.

“The case is still under investigation,” said Gwala.

Speaking about the crime of rape, Trish Gillespie, of the Jes Foord Foundation, said if a person was sexually assaulted their body became a crime scene, so it was important not to bath and to report the crime to the nearest police station or to go straight to the nearest Thuthuzela centre.

There are Thuthuzela care centres in uMlazi, Chatsworth and Phoenix where victims can get free trauma counselling.

“Once you have been medically attended to, we encourage victims to go for regular counselling,” said Gillespie.