“I felt like taking the law into my own hands,” says grandmother of disabled rape victim

The family of a 15-year-old rape victim, Molebogeng Mathibela, say they’ve been struggling since November to secure justice for their child.

The Hammanskraal schoolgirl’s life was changed forever on the 15th of November when she was raped and brutalised.

Moleboeng, who is deaf and unable to speak, had often been harassed by her peers and even beaten for her disability.

According to her family, three men committed raped her, but only one suspect, a 21-year-old man, has so far been charged.

Molebogeng’s grandmother, Annah Mathibela, spoke with YNews at the back of the suspect’s recent court appearance.

On the night in question, Mathibela says she began to feel concerned when her granddaughter did not return home at her usual hour.

At around 10 o’clock, Molebogeng stumbled into the family home covered in bruises, and a heavy blanket.

She was unwilling to speak with her grandmother.

Once Mathibela could make sense of what had happened, she says she confronted the mother of one of the alleged perpetrators, a nearby neighbour who immediately denied his involvement.

And as the case against one of the alleged perpetrators drags out in the Morotele Temba Magistrates Court, due to a backlog in DNA evidence, the family says not enough support is being given to victims of sexual violence or their families.

“I don’t feel like the government takes these matters seriously. I don’t have faith in this government, because I have not been assisted with counselling. At the hospital they explained to me that they did not have a person who could do counselling in sign language,” Mathibela told YNews.

The suspect is out on R500 bail. Written by Naomi Kobbie