SA police deny baby rape claim

The spate of baby rapes has triggered outrage

Police in South Africa have denied reports that a week-old baby girl was raped in KwaZulu-Natal.

A district surgeon has examined the girl and said that what had appeared to be blood was in fact a normal hormonal discharge.

The judge said Potse deserved to die

Superintendent Lawrence Zondi said that local nurses had led the police up the garden path.

The false alarm came just days after 23-year-old David Potse was sentenced to life in prison for raping a nine-month-old girl last year.

There has been a spate of baby rapes in South Africa, where some traditional healers, or sangomas, advise those suffering from Aids that sex with a virgin will cure them.

Nationwide protests

South Africa has the highest number of people with Aids in the world.

Superintendent Zondi had earlier confirmed the rape.

Sentencing David Potse, the judge said that he deserved to die.

The death sentence was abolished in South Africa after the African National Congress came to power in 1994.

Rapes of babies have triggered protests across the country and left South Africans reeling with horror.

Some have called for the return of capital punishment.

About 21,000 cases of child rape were reported to police in South Africa last year.

Children under 11 are the victims in 15% of all rapes in South Africa, according to police statistics.

Convictions are secured in just 9% of all rape cases.