A RAPE suspect who allegedly sexually abused a five-year-old Motherwell girl was arrested on Friday after a three-week delay.

This followed a report in The Herald on Friday in which the girl’s uncle and guardian claimed the police had been slow to act and that he had been “sent from pillar to post”.

Police spokesman Warrant Officer Dumile Gwavu confirmed a 57-year-old man had been arrested in KwaDwesi just after 11am on Friday and that a case of rape had been opened.

The man apparently went to the police station after he heard the police were looking for him. “Before his arrest, the police had gone to his house to look for him, but were told that he had gone to the police station,” said Gwavu.

The child’s uncle, of Swartkops Valley in Motherwell, laid a complaint with the police three weeks ago after his niece was raped. The police had failed to question the suspect despite having his name and address.

“I was informed by the police that the suspect had been arrested. This is good news because this case has been dragging on for quite some time,” he said.

The suspect was identified by the girl’s mother and grandmother during a police identity parade.

The five-year-old girl claimed she had been raped on at least three occasions, and doctors confirmed she had been sexually abused.

However, the uncle, with whom the girl lives, had said the police had been slow to act. Had it not been for The Herald’s intervention, he said, “I would not have received a phone call from the cops that they had tried searching for the man and could not find him”.

He said he had taken his late brother’s daughter, who is in Grade 1, under his wing in January after the Joe Slovo township home she lived in with her grandmother burnt down. Her mother also lived in the township.

The uncle, who owns a butchery in Wells Estate, said his staff had suspected she might have been molested after noticing a change in the way she spoke and behaved.

His fears were confirmed when he took the child to the Coega Primary School last month, only to be told by her teacher that the girl’s behaviour was strange and she mostly played with boys.

The child had finally opened up to her uncle’s female butchery staff about her ordeal.

“The staff told me that she had named a man from Joe Slovo who often called her to his house, where he told her to take off her clothes.

“When she refused, she said the man threatened to kill her and her family. He then forced himself on the girl.

“We went to the police station to report the matter. Even there, she told exactly what had happened.

“She said the man had raped her on three separate occasions, but we could not establish exactly when this happened, because of the girl’s age.”

The child was also taken to Dora Nginza Hospital for tests and a doctor confirmed she had been raped.

Eastern Cape Childline director Anna-Louise Olivier said that besides being threatened, children were often “groomed by the perpetrator and may question their own ability to have stopped or prevented the incident”.

“They therefore have feelings of shame, guilt and discomfort that may prevent them from speaking out.”

It was often also hard “for a young, traumatised child to (use) words to reflect” an experience.