GroundUp reports that an East London domestic worker who laid charges of rape against her employer four years ago is still waiting for the case to come to court.

Alice (not her real name) from Mdantsane, alleges she was raped repeatedly between 2016 and 2018.   She said at first she did not report the matter to the police because her rapist threatened to kill her if she told anyone. In May 2018 she finally broke her silence and reported the matter to Vulindlela police station in Mdantsane. Police spokesperson Brigadier Thembinkosi Kinana confirmed that the Mdantsane Family Violence, Child Protection and Sexual Offences Unit was investigating a case of rape. He said a 53-year-old man had been arrested a few days after the charge was laid, but the case had been withdrawn pending DNA results. Four years later, there is still no sign of the DNA test results. Alice said she was slowly losing faith in the justice system. She stated that she was now seen as a liar who tried to break up her employer’s marriage. Alice indicated that she started working for the man’s family when she was 17, looking after the children, and that her employer started raping her when his wife went away to study. Kinana could not say when the DNA results would be available as this depended on the work of the forensic laboratory. Such delays were not unusual, lamented an organisation which assists rape survivors.

• Read the full original of the report in the above regard by Nombulelo Damba-Hendrik at GroundUp

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