Italian engineers held over gang rape

13 April 2014 - 02:59 By Monica Laganparsad
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The gang rape of a teenage schoolgirl has rocked the ''quiet and peaceful" town of De Aar in the Northern Cape.

The 16-year-old girl was allegedly lured to a three-star guesthouse in town and held captive last weekend by four Italian nationals.

De Aar police spokesman Lieutenant Olebogeng Tawana said the girl was allegedly raped by four engineers contracted to install panels on a solar farm outside the town.

Tawana said the men appeared in the De Aar Magistrate's Court over three days this week for a bail application.

''Bail was denied. The allegation is that they took the girl to their guesthouse and took turns raping her over last weekend on Saturday night and Sunday morning. The suspects work for a company that's involved with the solar farm," he said.

The solar farm is 10km from the town. A senior policeman said that it was being constructed to boost employment in the town.

He added: ''When they appeared in court, a group of schoolgirls were outside protes-ting with posters that said they must rot in jail. These people were supposed to be creating jobs, but they are raping our children."

The policeman said De Aar was a ''quiet and peaceful" town.

''We hardly have any crime here. It's mostly just assaults and a little bit of theft. In my 14 years here, I've never seen anything like this."

A spokesman for the National Prosecuting Authority, Mashudu Malabi, said the men, aged between 23 and 47, would remain in custody until their next court appearance on May 16.

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