A South African man in the small town of Acornhoek in the northern-most province of Mpumalanga has died from traumatic injuries after he was badly beaten by a lynch mob who had accused him of trying to rape a 17-year-old girl.
The African Eye news agency reports that the girl's neighbours beat him with sticks, metal rods and even chairs. Many communities in South Africa increasingly take the law into their own hands because the understaffed, ill-equipped and poorly motivated police force is unable to handle the country's violent crime epidemic - which is the highest in the world, including in war zones. For police crime statistics see
here
Villagers in Mdlabongolo said the 29-year-old man from neighbouring Kgapamadi village had been found naked and was overheard telling the crying girl to shut up. This was discovered by the teen's young boyfriend when he returned home.
The youth had rushed to get help from the neighbours, asking them to rescue the girl from the older man. Instead, the neighbourhood formed an organised lynch mob and dragged the man from the house, said local police inspector Themba Twala. By the time police was alerted, the man had been severely beaten. He was rescued from the mob and treated at Tintswalo hospital, where he has now died.
As often the case in such events, police said, two suspects were arrested but due to the fact that witnesses refused to come forward, they were released again due to a lack of evidence.
The teenager's unnamed boyfriend said he immediately knew something was wrong when he got home to find the front gate open and the lights off. "I took off my shoes and when I reached the veranda I heard my girlfriend crying and someone telling her to shut up," he said.He looked through the window and saw a naked man with her.
