DESPITE telling the villagers to kill their son if they find him, the parents of the alleged serial rapist were still attacked.
As tension continues to rise at Thobithini Village in Ngwavuma, northern KZN, the suspect’s parents have gone into hiding.
They fled the village on Wednesday, 15 March, after being attacked by angry villagers because they could not find the alleged rapist, whom they had been searching for four days.
They were escorted out of the village by cops who rescued them from the angry mob.
The violence in the village started on Friday, 10 March, after the suspect allegedly raped and killed a 73-year-old gogo.
After the suspect allegedly killed the gogo, the villagers set out to find him, but he has not been found to this day.
Before that incident, DailySun learnt that the suspect had allegedly raped three matriculants on separate occasions.
On Wednesday, 15 March, they went to the house of the suspect's aunt. They allegedly asked a three-year-old child if his uncle had come home, and the kid said yes. They then stormed the house.
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The suspect distant cousin (33) said she was visiting her mother when a group of angry villagers stormed the house and demanded to take the suspect from his hiding place.
“I told them that this person had never in his life set his foot in this yard. They pushed my mother and me down. They told us that the child had said he was here and he had come to eat.
"We told them that the child referred to another uncle, not the one they were looking for.
"They dragged us out of the house and instructed us to open all the outside rooms, but they couldn’t find him,” she said.
She said they then dragged her mother and her mum to her uncle’s house.
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The cousin's mother (59) said: “Until this hour, it is difficult for me to explain what happened to us without tears running down my cheek. I never thought this could go to this extent.
"The most painful thing was to see my brother beaten, even though he had told the villagers at the meeting earlier in the week to kill his son if they found him, because he was also tired," she said.
She said they destroyed their houses, and her sister in-law was saved after the house she was locked in was set on fire.
The community police forum's deputy chairman, Joseph Ngubane, said the situation had calmed a bit after the residents' meeting, but the suspect has not been found yet.
“But the parents of the suspects are still in hiding and I believe they will be in hiding until the suspect is found,” he said.
KZN police spokesman Colonel Robert Netshiunda said: "The family members of the suspect were rescued and escorted out of the village.
"The family has not yet opened a case against the residents."
He said the suspect is still at large and the investigation is ongoing.
