Cape Town - The University of Cape Town has warned students to avoid Rhodes Memorial, particularly after dark, after two students reported being raped there in the past two months.
In a campus security announcement released on Saturday, UCT spokeswoman Gerda Kruger said a female student had reported being raped near the memorial’s restaurant on Tuesday by an unidentified man.
In an earlier incident, on December 11, another female UCT student reported she had been attacked and raped by an unknown man while walking from the memorial to the university.
Kruger said both rapes occurred in the late afternoon and were being investigated by police.
Kruger said, based on the reports of the two students, there were “some similarities in terms of the modus operandi involved in the attacks”.
“While it is too early to say at this stage, it may be possible that the same perpetrator is responsible.”
She said the university was in contact with both students to support them and offer them medical help and counselling.
“We will continue to strive to support the students for as long as is needed.”
In a third incident, which happened near the M3 expressway in front of the memorial last week, a male student was held at gunpoint and robbed of his car.
Kruger said the student’s abandoned vehicle was recovered some hours later and the suspects arrested.
The student was not physically harmed.
The campus security post was shared over 100 times on UCT’s Facebook page, attracting dozens of comments.
Student Christine Cozien posted that guards should patrol the path that leads from Rhodes Memorial parking bays reserved for UCT students to the university.
Weekend Argus