19th-July-2008
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 | Men's rights activist | | | |
SMS exposes teenager's gang-rape lie | |
From 2004: SMS exposes teenager's gang-rape lie Quote:
A teenager sent a terrifying SMS to her parents telling them she had been abducted, gang-raped, and was being held against her will.
Eighteen-year-old Elzita Vuso of Elsies River was missing for six days while police hunted for her and her attackers.
But then detectives realised all was not as it seemed. And on Wednesday Vuso was convicted of defeating the ends of justice and sentenced to five months' imprisonment, suspended for five years, after it was found she had made up the story.
Vuso disappeared from her home in 16th Avenue, Elsies River, on Sunday, October 10.
She sent an SMS to her parents telling them she had been abducted and was being held in Worcester.
Last Saturday, nearly a week later, she returned home with a chilling story. She said she had managed to escape from her abductors.
Vuso told Elsies River police detectives Captain Andrew Tobias and Inspector Robert Botha that she had been abducted by men in a dark blue Toyota Corolla, before being raped in Robertson.
She even accompanied the investigators over the weekend and on Monday while they looked into her claims, going to Robertson to point out the spot on a dirt road where she said her abductors took turns in raping her.
Vuso also pointed out several other places where the men allegedly took her.
With her help, Tobias and Botha led a team of policemen on a manhunt for the perpetrators.
All police units in Worcester, Robertson and neighbouring towns were placed on the alert, searching for the men in the blue Corolla.
But the clue to Vuso's undoing was the SMS she sent to her parents. Information from a cellphone company led police to a house in Worcester where it emerged the girl had spent the week - by her own choice.
The homeowner admitted he knew her, but said he had no relationship with her.
After further investigation, the detectives discovered that Vuso had faked the abduction and rape charges she had laid at Elsies River police station.
She was arrested on Tuesday for defeating the ends of justice, and appeared before senior magistrate Johan de Beer at Goodwood magistrate's court on Wednesday.
She repeatedly apologised for what she had done.
In response, De Beer reminded her she had wasted the police's time and resources.
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