A teenaged girl gathered up her courage and this week escaped the clutches of a Zimbabwean man who she was forced to marry after she was abducted in June this year, writes Bongani Fuzile.
ABDUCTED: Can’t access YouTube? Click here to watch video (6.2MB -- may buffer)
Four people – three of them Zimbabwean nationals and the fourth, the girl’s aunt – have been arrested by police after the girl was allegedly kidnapped and forced to marry a 22-year-old man in Dimbaza township.
The girl, who cannot be named as she is the victim of a sexual offence, was 12-years-old at the time.
She disappeared in June this year from her Mdingi village home, near King William’s Town. She was kept against her will in a Phola Park township house near Dimbaza.
One of the arrested people was her aunt, who was looking after her after her (teenage) mother passed away a few years ago.
On Wednesday, the teenager managed to escape from a Zimbabwean family home in Phola Park township, where she was being kept as a wife.
She told the Saturday Dispatch of how she was assaulted and forced to sleep with her 22-year-old Zimbabwean “husband”, who she was forced to marry.
“It was a very painful experience I would not love to see another teenage girl to encounter. My aunt sold me to this family because she wanted to get money.
“I couldn’t run away, I was watched all the time and I was assaulted almost daily to sleep with this man,” she said.
Her aunt allegedly forced her to drop out of her Grade 7 class at a local school.
The teenager and her aunt attended the same church with this Zimbabwean family.
The teenager relived how she was taken away from her Mdingi home in June this year without knowing that she was being taken to a forced marriage.
King William’s Town police spokesperson Captain Thozama Solani said there are more teenagers in the area who have a similar problem.
“We will be making more arrests in this area as we’ve heard that this is rife.
“The arrested four will appear in Dimbaza court on Monday for charges of kidnapping and one case of sexual assault,” said Solani.
The teenager has been taken to a place of safety in King William’s Town by social workers.
Read the full horror story in Saturday’s print or online edition of the Daily Dispatch.
2 Comments Already, Leave Yours Too
This is just so sick. My heart really goes out to this girl. First she had to deal with the trauma of her mother’s death and then her own aunt does this sick thing to her! Also how can this Zimbabwean worm call himself a man? How can any male who can take advantage of a child like this call himself a man? Real men don’t do things like this!!!!
How can this child ever be ale to trust anyone again or even have a real relationship with a man one day when she is OLD ENOUGH? I feel so sorry for her and just wish I could take her under my wing and protect her against all those vultures out there!
I really hope the aunt and all the others like her get the key thrown away in the deepest ocean. The men involved should also have something cut off!!!!
I so agree, TJ. This poor child. Just so thankful she was able to escape.
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