MAN SEXUALLY ASSAULTED - Sunette van der Heyde
Lowvelder 26 JUNE 2006
NELSPRUIT - A young man was so severely sexually brutalised last week that he had to be treated for internal injuries.
Doctors had to remove a foreign object with which the 20-year-old was assaulted after he complained of intense pain.
The man was allegedly attacked by his two employers, aged 30, at their home in Karino. He had recently relocated to the Nelspruit area and was employed by them as a domestic helper. According to the Greater Nelspruit Rape Intervention Programme (GRIP), the incident occurred last Wednesday after the men had allegedly indulged in alcohol in celebration of a birthday. They invited the man to enjoy a drink with them and later asked him to fetch something from one of the rooms in the house. They followed him and reportedly overpowered him and pinned him to the bed. According to the police they forced him to undress and took turns raping him, playing loud music to muffle the sound of his screams.
It is alleged that the two men offered their victim R500 to keep quiet but the severely traumatised man sought help at the GRIP care room at the Nelspruit Police Station later the same day.
The two accused were arrested the following day and briefly appeared in the Nelspruit District Court on Friday. The case was postponed for a Regional Court date.
GRIP spokesman, Ms Sanette Mattheus, told Lowvelder this week that this was not a unique or isolated case. She said it was estimated that five men were sexually assaulted for every seven women raped in South Africa, but that very few cases were reported.
GRIP encouraged male survivors to report incidents without hesita-tion at the nearest police station or hospital.
"The criminal justice system understands the embarrassment associated with male sexual assault and is sensitive in handling such cases," she said.
