AN alleged rapist thought he had escaped, but didn’t know that his hairstyle would give him away.
The 19-year-old man from Siyanda, north of Durban, accused of raping a seven-year-old girl, was caught and beaten by angry residents on Monday.
The girl he had allegedly raped identified him by his blonde hair.
The girls’ mother (37) said her child was on her way home from visiting relatives when the suspect grabbed her and raped her in bush near Siyanda on Sunday.
“We began searching for her. A woman found her two hours later.”
She said her child told her about the rape. “She described the man. She said he was wearing a soccer jersey, jeans and had blonde hair.”
Siyanda residents immediately started searching for the man.
“Residents first brought two men who fitted the description given by my daughter, but she said it was not one of them.
“When residents brought the third man with blonde hair, she immediately recognised him,” she said.
She said the man first denied it but later confessed to raping her child.
Captain Nqobile Gwala said a complainant (19) alleged that he was assaulted by residents who accused him of raping a girl.
“He was taken to the hospital. No arrests have been made in his assault complain. The complainant was also arrested on suspicion of rape and will appear in court soon,” she added.
