Motorist rapes 11-year-old girl

An 11-year-old girl from Beitbridge was last week allegedly raped by an unknown motorist who lured her into his car while she was selling mealie cobs at a service station in the town.

Matabeleland South police spokesperson Inspector Philisani Ndebele said the suspect was still at large.

He said the crime was committed around 7am.

Inspector Ndebele said the suspect was driving a navy blue car, but could not give out further details for fear of jeopardising investigations.

The complainant was selling mealie cobs at the service station when she was approached by the suspect.

He then enticed her to his car on the pretext that he wanted to buy the mealies, but grabbed the bucket and put it in his car when she got nearer to the car. He ordered her to get into the car, he said. Insp Ndebele said the girl resisted but the man threatened her with arrest, resulting in her submitting to his orders.

He said the suspect drove off to a bushy area in the industrial sites with the victim in his vehicle.

Upon getting to the industrial sites, the assailant raped the juvenile once in his car.

After that he drove back to the service station where he dumped her and the bucket containing mealie cobs, said Insp Ndebele. He said a report was made to the police and that investigations were underway.

"We are appealing to anyone with information to contact the nearest police station.

"At the same time, we want to urge people to be wary of strangers.

"Parents should stop using their children as vendors to avoid the occurrence of such incidents," he said.