South Africa fumes online after girl was raped in Dros restaurant toilet

dros silverton pretoria rape

South Africa’s Dros restaurant chain has come under fire on social media this week after it confirmed a seven-year-old girl was raped in a bathroom in a Gauteng outlet.

The incident, which took place on Saturday at the Silverton, Pretoria branch, first came to light on Facebook. The Citizen reported that the child was “snatched” from the female toilets and brought into the male toilets, where he raped her.

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On Tuesday, News24 reported that a case of rape was opened by Pretoria police. The suspect has also been arrested.

Dros’ statement

However, conversation on social media rapidly escalated on Wednesday, after Dros issued an official statement to media, confirming the incident.

“Dros Head Office hereby confirms that an incident (involving a minor child) took place at one of its franchise outlets, namely Dros Watermeyer, situated in Silverton, Pretoria,” the statement began.

Dros said it had “been in contact with the parents of the child to convey our sympathy and offered our assistance.”

The statement concludes with Dros’ tagline: “cause you can’t get too much of a good thing”.

Users on Twitter didn’t take kindly to the restaurant’s “sanitised language”.

“This is a shocking statement from Dros about the girl that was raped at Dros in Silverton. It lacks empathy and uses sanitised language about “an incident involving a minor child” almost as if she had agency. Zero compassion & examination of whether the place is child friendly,” tweeted Eusebius McKaiser.

Twitter questions parents, Dros and seeks mob justice

Some believed that the parents were at fault for letting the little girl out of their sight.

But some felt this argument removed the blame from the rapist himself.

The rapist’s unreleased identity then became one of the more discussed elements of the story.

Media outlets however have resisted publishing the names of those involved. The name of the suspect — who will reportedly appear in Pretoria Magistrates Court on 2 October — has yet to be officially revealed by authorities.

Twitter though wanted answers, with some believing that the media was “protecting rapists”.

South Africans should band together to stop the scourge of rape, some reiterated, while others offered their thoughts to the girl and her parents.

#Dros and #DrosSilverton continues to trend across South Africa at the time of writing.

Feature image: Dros

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