A 22-year-old pregnant woman was kidnapped and brutally gang-raped in
Johannesburg's inner city while on her way home from work at a
nightclub in the early
hours of Monday morning.
The woman’s male colleague told The Star they finished work at 4am and
were attacked on Lilian Ngoyi (formerly Bree) Street.
Their names have been withheld to protect the woman's identity.
"We were walking on Bree Street when one guy grabbed her," the co-
worker said. “I told him to stop what he was doing and we ended up in a
fight."
"From there, all I saw were a bunch of armed men surrounding me.
They
started hitting me, until I ran to get help from a woman who sells
newspapers around the corner,” said the 23-year-old bartender.
Some of the assailants proceeded to assault him, while the others stripped
his female colleague.
The woman was then dragged into a dilapidated block of flats nicknamed
Mnyama Ndawo, meaning "dark place", he said.
“When the police arrived, we heard screaming from the building, which has
no electricity. When we found her, there were men standing in a queue
waiting to have sex with her,” said the traumatised man.
Police spokesperson Captain Xoli Mbele said 11 suspects were arrested and
were expected to appear in the Johannesburg Magistrate’s Court on charges
of kidnapping and rape. The woman is in Charlotte Maxeke Johannesburg
Hospital, where she is receiving counselling.
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