NEWS & ANALYSIS

"House of blood and tears!" - Daily Sun

"'Shut your mouth or I will hunt you down and kill you'" - front page lead, November 28 2014

Daily Sun (November 28 2014) - ONLY THE walls of the house remain . . . Inside, the filthy floors are covered with cans, condoms and the scattered evidence of evil.

IT IS THE HOUSE OF HORROR.

"Since the house was built, no one has ever lived there. Now it has become a paradise for gangsters," an angry resident of Ratanda, Heidelberg, in Gauteng told Daily Sun.

"We want that place to be torn down brick by brick."

She said thugs smoke nyaope and dagga in the building.

"They drag women in there and rape them," she said. The latest victim, a 10-year-old girl, was on her way home from school on Monday when a man in dirty clothes dragged her into the house.

"He took off my panty and raped me," said the girl.

When he was done he told her to leave and never tell anybody. He said he would hunt her down and kill her. When the secret became too much for the child she told her mother, who reported the case to the police.

"This is the first time something like this has happened in our family. This man has ruined my child's life," said the devastated mother.

"I want the person who did this to pay. My child is very quiet and respectful. I could never even think someone would steal her innocence like this."

The mother said she went with the cops to the house.

"It broke my heart to see the place where that evil man took my daughter," she said.

When the SunTeam went to the house on Wednesday, they found condoms and condom packets lying among the rubbish on the floor. An old carpet and a dirty duvet lay on the ground as if somebody was sleeping there.

A case of rape was opened at Ratanda Police Station on Tuesday.

Constable Xolani Mkhize of Ratanda cops said they have taken some of the condoms for testing. He said the cops are aware of the allegations that more women were raped.

Residents said there are four houses in the area that have never been occupied and said it didn't take long for thieves to steal all the fittings, including the door and window frames.

Arthur Thokwane of Lesedi Municipality said they have never been informed about the houses.

See the Daily Sun mobi site for more on this and other stories....

 The Daily Sun is South Africa's largest daily newspaper with an average circulation of 274 165(Audit Bureau of Circulations 2nd Quarter 2014) and a readership of 5.7m (as per AMPS 2012ab). Its Facebook page can be accessed here. It can be followed on Twitter here. To find about advertising on the Daily Sun click here.

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