Two 16-year-old pupils from the Musina High School once again appeared in the Musina Magistrate’s Court on Tuesday on rape charges. This follows an incident over the past weekend when a 29-year-old Zimbabwean woman was raped at knife point.

Musina SAPS spokesperson Captain Sydney Mihloti Ringane said the incident occurred on Sunday at around 21:00 in a bushy area near a popular service station. “The victim, who is a Zimbabwean asylum seeker, had just arrived in Musina in the company of a friend when they decided to rest near the garage, so that they could then have their asylum documents processed the following day,” he said. The two Zimbabweans were approached shortly afterwards by two knife-wielding suspects, who forced them to walk to a nearby bushy area, Captain Ringani said.

Capt Ringane said the victim’s friend managed to flee, leaving her friend behind at the mercy of the two men. “The suspects then went on to search the woman and found nothing. They then took turns to rape her at knife point, after which they fled,” said the police spokesperson.

The victim reported the matter to the police, leading to the subse-quent arrest of the two suspects. “We arrested the suspects, who are both locals, on the same day after they were spotted by the victim during our routine police patrols,” Capt Ringane said.

It was later announced that the suspects are scholars at a local high school. When they appeared in court on Tuesday morning, their case was postponed until the 5th of March. They were released into the custody of their parents.

The police again issued a warning to people not to walk in secluded areas, especially at night.

The incident comes barely a month after three other Zimbabwean illegal immigrants were gang-raped by four men who had helped them to cross into South Africa illegally through an un-designated entry point along the Limpopo River.