The 11-year-old girl sits quietly on a bright red wooden bench beneath a tree, gripping her father's hand. Her parents fear she is on the verge of another epileptic fit. Since her second rape, the fits have intensified.
As her father speaks about the family's anxious wait for her HIV results, the girl watches leaves blow across the dusty front yard of their home outside the Mpumalanga mining and farming town of Burgersfort.
Listen to her story here:
Doctors from Dilokong Hospital - where she wants to one day work as a doctor helping children - have, for the past three months, had her on HIV medication after her 33-year-old cousin allegedly raped her in December.
Last week Monday she was allegedly raped again, this time by a 38-year-old cousin.
Arrests have been made in both cases.
The first rape occurred on Christmas Eve, when a cousin came to visit the family at their home in Bothashoek village. The alleged assailant was released on R2,000 bail by the Praktiseer magistrate's court on January 7.
The second rape occurred when, after school, the girl went to visit her grandmother, who lives 2km from her parents' home. The suspect in this case appeared in court on Thursday. He was remanded until March 16 for a ruling on his bail application.
Neither suspect can be named until they have pleaded.
The father says the family is devastated.
"We trusted him. He has never hurt anyone before," he says, referring to the first suspect.
The attack allegedly occurred after the girl's siblings went inside the house after they had all been playing together in the garden at her home. When her mother went outside to fetch her for dinner, she found the girl standing in front of the house, blood running down her legs.
"My wife screamed. She came running inside with my daughter, who said her cousin had raped her next to the outside toilet.
"I confronted him, but he said it was all lies, that he had left her by the toilet to go and fetch cigarettes from his house."
Grabbing his daughter, the father raced to the police before taking her to hospital.
Police arrested the cousin on Christmas Day after his brothers handed him over.
Increase in rape cases from October to December 2020, according to SAPS
— 1.5%
Two weeks later he was released on bail.
"I am so angry, especially because he still comes past our house and still lives close to us," the father says.
For the past two months, the family has been slowly trying to piece their lives back together.
But, last week Monday the family was left reeling again, when the girl came home crying, allegedly bleeding from her genitals.
"I went cold inside," says her father.
He says she had gone to her grandmother's house after school to play with her younger cousins.
Number of people raped between October and December 2020
— 12,218
He claims the second suspect, who was looking after the children while their grandmother went shopping, forced her into a room and raped her.
He alleges that after the attack, she was given money to buy a packet of chips and told to go home.
"I heard her cries. When I came outside I could see what [had] happened.
"Community members found him and beat him before they took him to the police."
He says the family has been living a nightmare, which has been caused by two men who they had trusted.
My daughter is scared someone will rape her again if she leaves home
— Father of 11-year-old alleged rape victim
"These men are friends. My daughter's second alleged rapist would have known what happened to her.
"My daughter's life has stopped. Now she is scared someone will kidnap and rape her again if she leaves the house."
The mother says her child's epileptic fits have become worse.
"She is on so much medication. She is so angry and sad.
"Her cousins were meant to protect her. After the first rape, the second man came to me and told me to take action."
The girl tells the Sunday Times she misses school and her friends.
"I want to be a doctor and help children like the doctors at the hospital helped me. I want to go back to school but I am scared."
Increase recorded in sexual offences in the three months from October to December 2020
— 5%
Salome Komane and Maria Mokwena, who witnessed the assault of the second suspect, say they fear for their granddaughters' safety. "We all have children and grandchildren. We are telling our daughters and granddaughters to be afraid of boys, men and old men."
Limpopo police spokesperson Brig Motlafela Mojapelo says detectives from the Family Violence, Child Protection and Sexual Offences Unit are investigating both rape cases.
Mashudu Malabi-Dzhangi, Limpopo National Prosecuting Authority spokesperson, says the accused in the first rape case is due back in court on May 4, while the accused in the second rape case is due back in court on March 16.
Malabi-Dzhangi says despite prosecutors opposing the first accused's bail application, the court granted it, citing "exceptional circumstances and the interest of justice".
Limpopo social development department spokesperson Witness Tiva says they have dispatched a team of social workers to provide psycho-social support to the family.
Granting abusers licence for impunity
The release of alleged child rapists on bail is a betrayal of the victims and their families, and risks potentially inciting other sexual predators to target the same child.
This, says Shaheda Omar, director of child advocacy group the Teddy Bear Clinic, is based on evidence from clinical research.
“There is a strong probability of other perpetrators targeting the same victim because they are aware of their vulnerability and powerlessness.”
She says the release of one of the suspects on bail was horrendous.
“It is an insult not only to the victim but also her family. The message conveyed to the victim is that she and her family do not matter and are insignificant.
“The rise in the reporting of such crimes shows how many such crimes are actually occurring. However, the lack of convictions means there is little deterrent for perpetrators, who have no fear of being convicted.”
Would you like to comment on this article?
Sign up (it's quick and free) or sign in now.
Please read our Comment Policy before commenting.