KwaZulu-Natal police have denied that a 43-year-old Verulam man escaped from hospital after he was arrested for the rape of his stepdaughter on Tuesday.
The man was admitted to hospital on Monday after an angry mob assaulted him when they heard of his alleged crimes.
"He was only arrested today. Someone took him to the hospital, where he was not under police guard," police spokesperson Colonel Thembeka Mbhele said.
She said that the suspect was allegedly assaulting the child when a neighbour came to her rescue. They were both subsequently chased away by the suspect.
The officers' first priority was the 10-year-old girl, Mbhele said. They returned to the home to collect information about the man.
Private security company Reaction Unit South Africa's (RUSA) Vinod Singh said earlier on Tuesday that the man was rearrested after he allegedly escaped from the hospital.
"RUSA circulated the information that the man had escaped and received an anonymous call from a community member in Phoenix, reporting the suspect's whereabouts. Officers proceeded to the location and found a crowd assaulting the man," Singh said.
Mbhele said the suspect has been detained at the Verulam police station and was facing a rape charge.
On Monday, News24 reported that lingerie, pornographic material and sex toys were allegedly strewn around the beaten man, who had been assaulted at his home.
"He had sealed all the windows in their home and held her captive in the house while he was at work. He also did not enrol her in school, so that she would not tell anyone about the rape and abuse she was going through," said Singh at the time.
Singh added that the suspect had allegedly asked his stepdaughter to sleep with other men to subsidise his income as a mechanic.
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