Rage over granddad who 'didn't halt rape'

"They wanted to cure this monster with prayer, instead of reporting my child's rapist to police. My father's failure allowed him [the rapist] to rape my daughter over and over again."

Shaking with anger, a North West mother yesterday recounted how her half-brother had allegedly raped and sodomised her daughter and nephew, both nine.

The Hartbeespoort fridge mechanic is alleged to have raped the two cousins in the past two years, while baby-sitting them after fetching them from school.

The girl eventually told her stepmother about the alleged assaults.

The girl's horror began shortly after she and her mother moved from Pretoria to her grandparents in Hartbeespoort.

Her cousin was allegely assaulted when he lived with his grandparents, mother and uncle.

The children are alleged to have been attacked in the man's caravan, on his parents' property.

North West police spokesman Colonel Sabata Mokgwabone said the suspect faced a number of charges, including rape.

"The investigation has just begun. It is extremely sensitive, involving young children."

The suspect would appear in court next week, he said.

The mother, who cannot be named to protect her daughter's identity, said when she had confronted her father about what had happened he had chastised her.

"In a cellphone message he said his son - my brother - 'would stand before an earthly judge, as I would stand before God and be judged' for what I had done."

The mother said she had learnt from her nephew's statements that he had repeatedly told his mother and her father about the attacks.

"The social workers told me that when he told his mother and our father about what had happened, they told him not to worry and to pray. Their solution to stopping this monster was prayer," the mother said.

A police source said a number of the children's relatives were being investigated.

"Their actions, or lack thereof, will be probed."

Hartbeespoort child rights activist Mike Cronje, who runs the In His Honour Outreach Foundation, said a number of children living on the property had been taken to places of safety.