POLITICS

"Escape to death!" - Daily Sun

"Koketso hangs herself hours after giving cops her statement on taxi gang rape horror" - front page lead, October 1 2014

Daily Sun (October 1 2014) - ON WEDNESDAY night a terrified teenager was kept captive in a Quantum taxi while another girl was being raped in the house.

For three nights the girls were held hostage before they were found by cops.

BUT A GREATER TRAGEDY WAS YET TO COME!

On Saturday, shortly after giving her statement to the cops, it became too much for the raped girl. The body of traumatised Koketso Sibahlelo (17) was found in her parents' house. She had hanged herself.

The two girls had spent Wednesday celebrating Heritage Day with friends in Thokoza Park, Soweto.

Later that evening, the girls took a taxi home.

But they weren't taken to Protea Glen, Soweto. Instead they were taken to a house in Pimville. That's where the one girl was held in the taxi while the two men took Koketso into the house and raped her.

Later both girls were locked in the house.

The 16-year-old girl, who can't be named, spoke to Daily Sun at her parents' home. She said her friend told her she was repeatedly raped in the house while she was in the taxi outside.

"I was lucky I was not raped," said the girl.

"When we were taken into the house we begged them to release us but they demanded R15 000 for each of us from our parents."

She said the men locked them in the house while they went out to work.

"They would bring us food but we didn't want to eat."

Koketso's friend said she can't believe her her friend is dead.

"Every time I close my eyes, I see Koketso. I have to take sleeping pills to sleep at night. I wake up screaming her name," she said.

Koketso's aunt said a man came to her house on Friday telling the family he knew the whereabouts of their niece.

"We informed the cops, who went with the man to the place in Pimville," said the aunt who asked not to be named or photographed.

"My niece was a quiet girl who never went out without letting me know. It was the first time she had not come home."

She said they were trying to recover from their kidnapping drama when she found Koketso's body hanging in the lounge.

She said police arrested the two suspects when they rescued the teenagers. The family doesn't know why the suspects were later released.

"We are busy now with the funeral arrangements but we want to see the suspects face the law," she said.

See the Daily Sun mobi site for more on this and other stories....

 

The Daily Sun is South Africa's largest daily newspaper with an average circulation of 274 165 (Audit Bureau of Circulations 2nd Quarter 2014) and a readership of 5.7m (as per AMPS 2012ab). Its Facebook page can be accessed here. It can be followed on Twitter here. To find about advertising on the Daily Sun click here.

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