Horrific new details after 84 people arrested in music video rape attack
WARNING - GRAPHIC DETAILS: More than 80 suspects in the gang rapes of eight women who were brutally attacked and robbed while making a music video in South Africa have appeared in court.
The crew, including 12 women and 10 men, were filming in an abandoned mine in Krugerdorp, outside of Johannesburg, when a group of heavily armed men wearing blankets and balaclavas stormed the area around 5pm, the South African Police Service said.
The men fired shots at the women and men as they tried to run away and forced them to the ground, local publication SA People reports.
Eight of the women, all models in the video aged between 19 and 35, were raped — many of them by multiple men — in nearby bushes during a traumatic four-hour ordeal.
Police say the attackers, who they believe to be a gang of illegal gold miners, then took wallets, mobile phones and jewellery before fleeing the scene.
Woman recalls horrific attack
One of the victims, who organised the models to appear in the video, has since spoken out about the horrific gang rapes.
She told The Sunday Times she offered herself to the men to try and protect the others.
“I was blaming myself, thinking that if it hadn’t been for me, these girls wouldn’t be there. I felt responsible and I wanted to take all the pain so that they wouldn’t touch the girls,” she said.
The woman said she was raped multiple times and that the men were forcing younger boys to participate.
“The young boys wold then take us, one by one, to the bushes,” she said, adding that one of the victims, a 19-year-old woman, was assaulted by 10 men.
Situation right now at krugersdorp west… shootout!
Police vs Zama zama’s pic.twitter.com/pBI7sVer0S— David Selemogo (@MrDee_deza) July 29, 2022
Two suspects killed in police shootout
Following the brutal attack, police used drones and sniffer dogs to try and track down the fleeing suspects, leading to the arrest of 84 people over three days.
Two suspects died during during a shootout with officers and another is injured in hospital, police said.
Many of the 84 suspects — illegal miners known as zama-zamas — are foreigners and are facing charges of contravention of the Immigration Act and possession of stolen goods, local media reports.
At the Krugersdorp Magistrates Court, where the suspects that were arrested for the rape of a number of young woman, will appear before court. @ActionSA_JHB @HermanMashaba @john_moodey @BonganiBaloyiBB pic.twitter.com/q8njjyuL80
— JustCarin (@CarinvdS) August 1, 2022
Police in the northern province of Gauteng said they are investigating at least 32 cases of rape but no one has been charged yet.
Laboratory studies of DNA samples from the raped women will be used to identify perpetrators of the rapes, National Minister of Police Bheki Cele, who has met with most of the victims, said on Monday.
Charges of armed robbery are also pending.
Protestors swarm court after gang rapes
More than 300 people demonstrated outside the Krugersdorp Magistrates Court on Monday to express the community’s fury over the rapes.
News of the gang rapes and robbery has angered community and women’s organisations in the area, who have complained that such incidents are rife around Krugersdorp.
Sexual assault is a major problem in South Africa.
Just in the first three months of this year, police reported 10,818 rapes in a population of 60 million.
But authorities assume that number is under-reported, as many cases are never reported to police.
With AP
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