Three-year-old toddler raped at pre-school

A three-year-old toddler reportedly was raped at her pre-school in Temba, South Africa allegedly by the owner's mentally-disabled son, Pretoria North police insp Sarah Lesabane said on Thursday. The child told her parents of the rape on Tuesday.

"The girl was allegedly raped by the man on Tuesday, during school hours," said Inspector Lesabane. "When the child went home, she complained to her mother about what had happened. She told her that the man at school touched and kissed her." The man was arrested shortly after the mother reported the incident to police. He was scheduled to appear in the Temba Magistrate's Court on Thursday on a charge of rape - however the court must still determine whether he is mentally stable or not, she said. Child-rape is massive problem in South Africa. See our previous story here 302,000 girls under 18 raped in 2005/6 Amnesty International estimates that some 302,000 girls under 18 were raped in South Africa in 2005 and '06, and warns that much sex abuse takes place in schools targetting children of all ages in South Africa. South Africa has 47-million residents - and a major survey of crime and children by the Centre for Justice and Crime Prevention found that it has the highest per-capita child-rape statistics in the world. The CJCP found last year that some 4.2 percent of 4,000 children reported being sexually assaulted in 2008. And, says Director Patrick Burton, "'we believe this vastly underestimates the problem." He points out that while the South African Police Statistics claim that less child-rapes are being reported to them, the hospital surveys indicate the exact opposite: namely an increase of the number of child-rape cases they are treating. The CJCP research indicates that children who have experienced crime also have a statistically high chance of themselves turning to crime or antisocial behavior. "We have also picked up a worrying trend toward young people increasingly committing a range of violent crimes, including rape, against other young people. "The number of young offenders being arrested has grown in the past decade," says Burton. Why is the situation so bad in South Africa? Experts in the field point to a range of factors. One often-cited suggestion is that those who rape children are 'buying into the witchdoctor-myth that sex with a virgin can cure HIV/AIDS, leading to the spate of ghastly attacks on babies and toddlers." Some 6,1-million South Africans are infected with the HI-virus, and an estimated 5,000 patients die from it weekly. Thus there also are millions of increasingly feral orphaned children growing up in precarious circumstances and without family structure or members to guide and protect them.see