Durban police officers, shaken by the rape of a 92-year-old woman, clubbed together to bring her some comfort on Mandela Day, which fell on her birthday.
As the nation celebrated Nelson Mandela's birthday, detectives from Isipingo tried to help the woman salvage what little she could of her birthday, pooling to buy a cake, cold drinks and a blanket, which they delivered on Sunday.
Hours after the attack on Thursday, police arrested a 29-year-old man, believed to be a neighbour, in the Isipingo area.
The frail victim lives with her niece's daughter in an informal settlement.
Speaking outside her modest home on Sunday night, a relative said she had left home at 5.30am last Thursday and returned at about 4.30pm.
"I came down to give gogo an orange but she was very quiet. She just took it and didn't say 'thank you' or anything.
"She slowly started to peel the orange, without looking at me, and I could see something was wrong.
"I asked my daughter if gogo was okay. That's when she told me she had been raped," she said.
She said she burst into tears as her daughter recounted what the victim had told her.
Her daughter said the neighbour had apparently come into the shack and forced himself on the elderly woman while they had been out.
"I quickly took her up to my place and put her on the bed and gave her some water. I called the police and they took us to Prince Mshiyeni Hospital."
She said doctors confirmed the elderly woman had been raped and police opened a case.
The victim had apparently become severely withdrawn and depressed after the incident. Another relative has temporarily moved in with her to care for her.
When the Daily News visited the family on Sunday night, the victim was lying on the floor of her sparsely-furnished shack, covered in a blanket to shield her from the bitter cold.
To exacerbate the situation, the family claims that some neighbours have started to threaten them for having their neighbour arrested.
"I'm so scared to live here now. I can't even sleep at night. A lady (from the settlement) told me if they find out he (the suspect) didn't do it and we got him arrested for nothing, then they will hurt us."
Warrant Officer Rajen Gounden, of the Isipingo SAPS detective services, said the unemployed suspect was arrested at his home on Thursday evening and was expected to appear in a Durban Magistrate's Court on Monday.
eThekwini Municipality executive committee member, Visvin Reddy, also paid her a visit last night.
"This act can be described as barbaric at best. The person responsible for this must be removed from society.
"The victim shares her birthday with Nelson Mandela and this incident serves as a stark reminder that Madiba's dream of a caring and crime-free nation will not be realised as long as criminals continue to behave in this way," he said.
Source: Agencies
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