What was meant to be a lesson in manners turned into a nightmare for a Western Cape mother after her misbehaving teenage daughter - who she had detained at a police station - was allegedly raped by a policeman.
On Wednesday the Montagu mother, who cannot be named, scolded her 15-year-old daughter for coming home late.
Her daughter responded to the reprimand by "throwing tantrums" and smashing items in the house.
The last straw for the mother was when she broke a mirror.
The distraught woman said she had called the police because she was "too emotional" to deal with her daughter.
Sonto [not her real name] said when the police arrived she told them what had happened and said to them that she wanted her daughter to be detained for the night so she could "calm down".
She realised that something was wrong when she and her husband went to collect her daughter the next day from the police station.
"She was more broken than calm. At home she burst into tears.
"She told us how one of the police officers, who had taken her to the station, had raped her in the police station's victim trauma room.
On Friday a 47-year-old police warrant officer was arrested and charged with rape.
Robbie Raburabu, spokesman for the Independent Police Investigative Directorate, said the policeman would appear in the Montagu Magistrate's Court today on rape charges.
Raburabu said the teenager had been taken to hospital for a medical examination, the results of which would form part of the case.
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