- CAPE TOWN (SAPA) --
The increasing rape and abuse of babies and young girls in South Africa
is a dangerous symptom of a very sick society, says an expert.
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- According to forensic criminologist Irma Labuschagne,
it is difficult to sketch a profile of a "typical" child rapist,
but there are some common denominators in many of the cases reported.
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- "Alcohol seems to play the biggest part. Also, where
mothers do not know how to take care of their babies. Unemployment is also
a problem."
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- Labuschagne, whose expertise is often called on by the
courts in child abuse cases, says overcrowding at home is another common
factor in such crimes.
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- Speaking to Sapa from Johannesburg, she said the myth
that sleeping with a virgin could cure Aids was also causing an increase
in child rape cases.
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- "We would be very stupid to think it does not. It
is not the first time that kind of myth has existed."
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- Labuschagne's remarks follow the rape of a nine-month-old
baby at her home in Cape Town on Saturday, while her parents and others
lay sleeping after a party.
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- Police in the Mother City on Sunday arrested a 35-year-old
man in connection with the rape.
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- In a second incident at the weekend, a two-year-old girl
was lured away from friends outside her home in the Du Noon informal settlement
and raped. Her mother was out shopping at the time.
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- According to media reports, a total of 38 girls have
been raped or assaulted in the Western Cape so far this month.
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- According to the latest South African Police Service
annual report, the number of cases of child abuse increased nationally
by 81.2% in the 2002/03 reporting year.
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- Cases doubled
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- From April 1, 2002 to March 31 this year, 4,798 cases
of child abuse were reported, compared to 2,648 the previous year.
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- The report shows the highest incidence of child abuse
to be in the Western Cape, followed by Gauteng and then the Eastern Cape.
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- Labuschagne says crimes against children are a symptom
of a very sick society.
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- "It is a very dangerous symptom of a very sick society.
A society that is so violent that it is becoming desensitised to this kind
of thing.
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- "The Baby Tshepang case was front page news all
over the country. This latest incident is just a little square in the middle
of the page."
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- Labuschagne says there is a need for South Africans to
return to old-fashioned morals and values.
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- "The community has to take this in hand. Everyone
has some responsibility, and must see exactly how abhorrent this kind of
behaviour is. It cannot be accepted."
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- However, she says the morale of some people is so low
they do not care what is happening next door to them.
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- "It is easy to say there should be a return to old
fashioned values, but some people are in places where they feel their lives
are almost over."
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