Gran chooses rape over death
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Johannesburg - A knife-wielding youngster ordered an 85-year-old Limpopo pensioner to choose between rape and death.
The frail granny begrudgingly put aside her walking stick and submitted to the man, young enough to be her grandson.
She said she did this to spare her life. She had just seen three other old women - metres away on the same road - dragged into bushes by three armed men.
All of this happened on Friday afternoon as Granny Mosima (not real name) returned from the communal farms outside her Laastehoop village in the Ga-Molepo area, near Polokwane.
The whereabouts of three other pensioners was unknown, the octogenarian told The Star.
“I only saw them being dragged into the bush as the fourth man walked toward me. He immediately dragged me into the bush, and when I tried to shout for help, he threatened to stab me with a knife,” she said.
“I don’t know if they were also raped.”
She did not know the women, but said they too were walking from the communal farms.
After raping her, the man demanded cash and a cellphone, which she did not have. He then left.
“When he finished with me, I walked back to the road, but there was nobody else to be seen. I opted to go straight home. I felt weak but I had to keep walking.”
She is one of the many pensioners raped in the police’s Mankweng jurisdiction in the past 12 months. No arrests have been made in any of the cases.
The Star