The daughter of Joao Rodriguez, the apartheid-era policeman accused of murdering teacher and activist Ahmed Timol in a 1971 staged suicide, laid charges of historical child abuse against her 80-year old father on Tuesday.
Tilana Stander decided to go public about the alleged sexual abuse she suffered at the hands of her father between 1972 and 1976.
Stander made contact with the organisation Woman and Men Against Child Abuse (WMACA) following several historical cases being opened after the recent Frankel 8 Amendment to the Criminal Procedures Act, which basically overrules the 20-year prescription period for prosecution.
The founding director of WMACA Miranda Jordan says we as a society need to actively interrogate our own ways of thinking about adult survivors of childhood sexual abuse and historical abuse. To ensure that we as a society do not also think the same way as the accused and enablers, by denying the victim the opportunity to have their story told and to be heard.
Stander issued a statement explaining her reasons for only coming forward now.
She says has always been ashamed and believed she must have done something wrong. She also feared she would be further labelled, disgraced and rejected.
Stander says she spoke about her alleged abuse to her siblings and other family members who labelled her a trouble maker for speaking up.
She is now estranged from her family.
The matter has now been handed to SAPS for further investigation.
Photo: African News Agency
