A 21-year-old gay South African man has been raped after getting approached by a man seeking a cigarette.
According to reports, the man was attacked while walking in Church Street after he went to check on his friend and after he purchased a cigarette in Nkandla (N2 Gateway).
His attacker was said to have accosted him and asked to share the cigarette. After agreeing, they walked a distance and after that he attacked him and dragged him to a bush, where he raped him.
The family of the victim were alerted to the attack after he arrived home at 11pm in tears and spoke about it.
The mother added that the family knew about their son’s sexual orientation and accepted him, but shared fears that this could happen again, as her son had faced attacks on previous occasions.
“He was almost raped here in Langa and at boarding school in Stellenbosch,” the mother said in a South African report.
“He once arrived here traumatised after he was attacked and almost got raped by a group of men in Stellenbosch.
“This time he happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time and we fear what these incidents will do to him. From what he’s telling us it seems as if the perpetrator had been planning this.”
The mother said that the family were still coming to terms with the attack, and that the victim hasn’t been able to sleep since it happened.
The police have confirmed that they believe the man was targeted because of his sexual orientation, and said that a suspect would appear in court when they were apprehended.
Anele Gqasana, from the Langa Community Advice Services, said: “This is the first case we have dealt with and to have such cases where there are calls for the end of gender-based violence and the raping not only of women and children but everyone is upsetting.”
