Aids counsellor tried to rape me: student

Aids counsellor tried to rape me: student
'I was surprised by the nurse's response'
http://www.int.iol.co.za/index.php?set_id=1&click_id=125&art_id=vn20071020085919413C235847
October 20 2007 at 11:25AM
By Nondumiso Mbuyazi

A young Durban student's routine visit to a clinic because she was not feeling well turned into a terrifying experience after she said an Aids counsellor there tried to rape her.

The 23-year-old woman, of Krans-kop, said she went to the clinic in Lancers Road, Umbilo, where she was advised to have an HIV test.

After taking her blood sample, the counsellor told her to wait in his office while he fetched her results. "He then came back and locked his office door. I thought this was strange but then thought maybe he didn't want other people to hear my results. He then asked me whether I knew how to use a condom," she said.

She told him that she did know how to use one since she was studying through Unisa to become a social worker, but it seemed the counsellor was adamant on showing her how to use the condom.

"I was shocked when he pulled down his pants and demanded I show him how a condom is used. I declined because I know the rules of being a social worker or a counsellor and they definitely do not include you or a counsellor doing a physical or practical demonstration," the woman said.
What frightened her even more, she said, was when the counsellor told her to get on the bed so he could show her how people contracted Aids. "I refused to do this.

"By now I could see he was getting annoyed and that's when we got into a tussle. I kept on demanding he open the door and let me out but he wouldn't hear of it until I gave in to his demands," she said.

A case of attempted rape has been opened against the counsellor, although a senior nurse at the clinic advised her not to. "I was surprised by the nurse's response when I told her what had happened in the counsellor's office.

"She told me to calm down and she would sort everything out, but she pleaded with me not to report the matter to the police because the man could lose his job," she said.

The traumatised woman said she still did not know how she managed to push her way out of his office and escape because she could see that the counsellor "meant business" and was not going to let her go.

Police confirmed that a case had been opened against the counsellor, but nobody had been arrested.