According to Mpumalanga police spokesperson Lieutenant Colonel Jabu Ndubane, the 30-year-old victim says she was sleeping alone in her rented room at approximately 01:00 in the morning when she was woken by a noise coming from the window.
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“She said she then saw a man known to her inside the room. She screamed for help, but no one responded. The man instructed her not to scream and began strangling her. She tried to defend herself, but was overpowered and eventually fainted.
“She said that when she regained consciousness, the suspect was sitting next to her on the bed. She screamed again, and the man strangled her again. She pleaded with him not to harm her. She then noticed a knife on the stove and used it to stab the man in his left shoulder. He overpowered her again, assaulted her with his fists and she fell to the floor.
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“He demanded money, took her bank card and cellphone, and then covered her face with a cloth before forcefully undressing her and raping her.
“He then took her to his house, where he locked her inside without food. She later managed to escape through a window and was seen by her sister, who had been searching for her. She immediately identified the suspect, and the police were called,” Ndubane said.
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The suspect was arrested and is expected to appear in the Nelspruit magistrate’s court tomorrow.
