Police in South Africa’s Mpumalanga Province are investigating an incident of robbery with violence at a guest house in Mbombela.

Preliminary investigations have revealed that after robbing their victims at gunpoint on Thursday, February 15 night, the robbers forced students living there and security guards to have sex as they watched.

Police spokesperson Captain Magonseni Nkosi, confirming the incident, says that it all started when heavily armed robbers raided the facility, rounding up students and guards.

“A house robbery case was opened after it was alleged that three armed suspects attacked students and guards in a guesthouse,” Nkosi said as reported by Sowetan Live.

Nkosi says the robbers robbed the victims of six cellphones at gun point, and wanted to know the whereabouts of the guesthouse’s owner [Philemon Lukhele].

It was at this point, Nkosi says, that the robbers instructed the victims to undress.

“The suspects allegedly instructed the victims to undress and male victims were allegedly forced to rape the female victims. One victim, a security guard, managed to escape and the suspects immediately fled the scene,” Nkosi adds.

‘Sad, traumatic to all of us’

According to a victim who spoke to Sowetan Live on condition of anonymity, the robbers had high calibre guns pointed at them before taking them to a bedroom.

“This is sad and traumatic to all of us. These people were carrying very big guns and asked for the owner [Lukhele] and we said he was not there as he doesn’t live here, and [at] that [point], they ordered the students and security guards to go into one room.

“Inside, they ordered everyone to undress, that’s when they told the males to have sex with the females,” narrated the victim.