She smiles, has a positive aura about her and can converse with people, but she is also vulnerable as she has an intellectual disability.
A man living in the Paarl East area who goes by the name of Dean raped 23-year-old Portia Davids. Dean is aware of Portia’s disability, yet he continuously bothered her and sometimes asked her when he could see her.
Eventually, a week ago, he called her again. She walked with him and had a brief conversation with her.
“I was asking him about my phone’s memory card because it was out of my phone. People were standing around because I remember speaking to them too. At some point, we sat down, and he asked if he could touch my leg, and I said it was okay,” she said.
She explains he then took her to the toilet.
“When he got to the toilet, he told me to stand with my back to him. Then, he put on a condom and had sex with me. He then put me on a bed and told me to position myself so he could have sex with me. At one point, I even shouted and cried because I was getting hurt and told him to stop, but he did not listen,” she said.
Davids said he wanted nothing to do with her after raping her vaginally and anally.
“He bragged about what he did with me; I was confused. He said he now has nothing to do with a child of the state and said he was going to take the SASSA money from me,” she said.
Once the community members heard of the incident, they attacked Dean, and since then, they have not seen Dean. It is unclear at this stage whether an actual police case has been opened, but the police have been in contact with the woman’s family members and have requested some tests to be done.
Action Society is moving in and will be assisting Portia with the matter. In addition, Action Society received a mandate from her family to support and help with the process to ensure justice is served.
