The whole village of Mont Ida, in the eastern part of the country, is in turmoil. A 57-year-old woman was raped at her home on the morning of Friday 15 April by three individuals during a burglary. The thieves broke into her home through an open kitchen door after climbing over a back wall from a cane field. A large police operation mounted in the early evening led to the arrest of the suspects, drug addicts in the Bois-Marchand housing estate, Terre-Rouge. They are brothers Jean Gregory Stuard Rabaille, 24, Jean Stéphane Jérémie Rabaille, 25 and their cousin Jean Cliven Loganne Rioux, 24. All three are homeless.
Nothing foretold that the life of this fifty-year-old would change on Friday 15 April. It was 8.30 a.m. that day. The woman was going about her daily business in her kitchen. Her husband had gone to work. Her two 14-year-old children, two twins, did not go to school on that last day before the Easter holidays.
At one point, she heard someone crossing her yard. Immediately, three young people entered her kitchen. At knifepoint and with box cutters, they demanded money and jewellery. When the 50-year-old refused, two of them began to assault her before dragging her into a bedroom. They tied her up on a bed with clothes. These two men were later to sexually abuse her.
These two children were woken up by her cries and screams, and were told by the men to stay in their room where they would harm them. The three thugs left with Rs 10,000, two money boxes, four mobile phones, a DVR for surveillance cameras, a PS4 and a blue bag.
A team of police officers led by Inspector Saroja Ramkissoon of the Camp de Masque police station was immediately alerted to the case. The police machinery was set in motion to find the perpetrators of the rape. The men of the Criminal Investigation Division (CID) of Brisée-Verdière, led by Inspector Appadoo, Inspector Seebnauth, Sergeant Ramchurrun with elements of the Divisional Crime Intelligence Unit (DCIU) of Flacq and men of the Mauritius Police Intervention Group (GIPM), led by Inspector Saunbocus, went to cité Bois-Marchand, Terre-Rouge on the basis of certain information.
The three suspects who were in a house were arrested. A white mobile phone was found in the possession of Stuart Rabaille. During this operation, the three suspects were injured when they tried to escape from a hostile crowd. A DCIU officer sustained injuries to his right hand while attempting to protect the suspects from the excited crowd. “Zot vinn gatt repitasyon nou lendrwa,” some residents kept shouting.
Stuard Rabaille was taken into custody at the Quartier-Militaire police station, while his brother Stéphane Rabaille spent his first night in custody at the Rivière-Sèche police station. Cliven Rioux is being held at the Flacq police station. The three suspects were brought before the Bail and Remand Court (BRC) in Port Louis on Saturday 16 April. The three suspects, originally from Mont Ida, no longer live in the village. They were known to the police for theft offences.
