Brutal gang batters way into Mdantsane houses, terrifies families
Rape victim shoots attacker

By Simpiwe Piliso and Lucas Mati
East London Dispatch

EAST LONDON -- An Mdantsane rape victim shot and wounded her attacker after a gang of thugs went from house to house robbing, raping and terrorising community members.

The alleged rapist is in Cecilia Makiwane Hospital (CMH) with a bullet wound in the abdomen. He is in a stable and satisfactory condition, the hospital superintendent, Dr Ian Harris, said.

The gang, which included a woman, targeted houses in the township on Sunday.

The owner of the first house they attacked, Mr Mhlanguli Ngqisha, said the woman in the gang knocked on the door for a long time, and when they did not respond, she forced her way inside.

Soon afterwards he and his family heard a bang and in seconds gang members were inside his house.

He and his family locked themselves into one of the bedrooms, but the men used an axe to break down the bedroom door.

They demanded money and threatened to kill them, so he handed them cash.

The gang then dragged his wife outside, in what appeared to be an attempt to rape her, but she managed to escape and the robbers fled.

Ngqisha claimed police failed to respond when he called the emergency number 10111, and he was told by a duty officer that he was alone and no vehicle was available.

Meanwhile the gang went to another house, where the woman again knocked at the door and identified herself as "Asanda".

Ms Vuyiswa Bonase, 28, said the woman asked for her younger sister, Vuyiseka, 18, but they were too scared to open the door.

Asanda repeatedly called Vuyiswa, begging her to open the door as she was freezing outside.

Vuyiseka eventually went to the back door to check if she knew "Asanda", but when she peeped through a small opening, she only saw a man.

She returned to the bedroom where she was sleeping with Vuyiswa and another woman.

Vuyiswa shouted from inside the house and told the people outside to leave.

A few minutes later the intruders began to break all the windows in the house and gunshots rang out.

The women hid under the bed as the attackers broke in.

"One of the men forced my bedroom door open, while another beat my mother," said Vuyiswa.

One of the attackers grabbed her mother, Nosimithi, 69, and forced her to open the back door so other members of the gang could get in.

Vuyiswa came out from under the bed to look for the keys, but one of the men assaulted her with a firearm. They demanded money and she took a wallet from the suitcase and handed them cash.

One of the men dragged Vuyiswa outside into the veld where he raped her.

While he was raping her, he put the gun on the ground and Vuyiswa managed to grab it and shot him in the stomach.

She fired another shot at him, but missed and then immediately ran towards the houses, gun in hand.

She found one of the attackers raping another woman in the kitchen and fired at him.

The shots missed and he ran away.

The victims also complained that had the police arrived when they were notified, their ordeal could have been prevented.

Still shaken, Vuyiswa told the Daily Dispatch that police had allegedly told her neighbours they did not have a vehicle to attend the scene.

She claimed a drunk officer, driving an official vehicle, eventually arrived, almost two hours later.

"I never thought it would happen to me," she said.

Police spokesman Sibongile Ndyoko said the injured suspect was under police guard at CMH.

He said police had opened rape and armed robbery dockets.

Allegations that police failed to act promptly would be investigated, he said.