21 October 2006

Residents cut off child rapist's penis

February 12, 2004


Angry residents of a South African township cut off the penis of a man caught raping a five-year-old girl, police said.

The 26-year-old man was in a critical condition in hospital after the assault, which happened on Sunday at Mandela Park in the East Rand township near Johannesburg, Sergeant Zithini Dlamini told Reuters.

The traumatised girl was being treated for her injuries, which were not life-threatening, she said.

No arrests had yet been made. Members of the child's community would not reveal who assaulted the man when several caught him in the act of raping the child after luring her to a shack, she said.

"Nobody is talking. While we condone the community for catching the man, we would encourage people to come to us rather than taking justice into their own hands," she said.

South Africa has one of the highest rates of reported rape in the world.

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