The man who slept with a 13-year-old and impregnated her after he promised the girl's mother R30 000 lobola has been denied bail. The 36-year-old man from Durban in KwaZulu Natal is facing two statutory rape charges. The girl's 32-year-old mother is also in police custody.

R30 000 LOBOLA PROMISE

According to the 13-year-old's aunt, the girl was first handed over to the man, who is a security guard in December where the man first had sex with the minor. "My sister told us that she met the man at Durban CBD where he first proposed love to her. She said that she told him that she had four children from four different fathers and the man then told her that according to his culture, he cannot marry someone with four kids," the aunt said. She alleged that the man promised the mother R30 000 for her minor daughter's hand in marriage. The mother allegedly agreed to the arrangement and took her daughter to the man in December 2023. "They met at a fast-food restaurant where she left my niece who was a virgin at the time to spend the night with the man. The man slept with the daughter and impregnated her on their first sexual encounter. The second visit happened in January where they had gone to inform him that the daughter missed her periods, again the man slept with the child," the aunt said.

THE MINOR MISCARRIED 

The aunt said that the grade 4 learner had a miscarriage before she ran away from home to inform her neighbour about the rape. "This is how we got to know about the girl's situation. This has disturbed her father, but he has taken her to stay with him full-time. We don't know what came over that woman's head except greed and the love of money," she said. KZN Spokesperson Constable Thenjiswa Ngcobo said police in Durban arrested a man for rape following an incident in which a girl was allegedly raped while they were at a certain business premises in Durban. "The suspects appeared at Durban Magistrates Court on 13 June 2024 and the matter was remanded to 20 June 2024," she said. The man and the mother were both denied bail.