After reportedly fondling three sisters while they slept in their room in Hazelmere, KZN, early on Saturday morning, the community caught and beat the 29-year-old Malawian national.
The parents of the three girls, who are nine, fourteen, and eighteen years old, were contacted by Reaction Unit South Africa (RUSA) after residents requested assistance at the site.
The kids were sound asleep in the one-room outbuilding, the parents claimed, when their neighbor came in, took off the blanket covering the girls, and started petting them.
The girls’ parents were asleep in the main building when one of them woke up and called for assistance.
The sisters recognized the escaped suspect as their neighbor.
They found his sandals in their room.
After searching the area, the parents and community members found the suspect in a nearby tuckshop.
They attacked him and called RUSA to ask for help.
The suspect refuted the accusations during interrogation, saying he was in the yard looking for a friend.
He acknowledged that his sandals were gone, but he was unable to explain how they got inside the kids’ room.
After being placed under arrest, the suspect was turned over to the Verulam police to be looked into further.