People are raising funds for the mother who stabbed her daughter’s alleged rapists

A crowdfunding initiative has been set up to raise funds for a woman who was arrested after she stabbed three men who were allegedly gang-raping her daughter. The fundraiser, labelled #lionmama, was set up on the crowdfunding platform Generosity. Within five days it had already raised almost three times its initial target of $2 500.

The incident occurred earlier this month in in rural KuQumbu, Eastern Cape. The woman was released on R500 bail after her community members helped raise the money for her release.

The woman told Dispatch Live that when she was told that her daughter was being raped by knife-wielding men, she tried to contact the police for help and that the village headman had also tried to contact the police, before she went looking for her daughter herself. She heard a scream from an unoccupied house in the area, where she found the the three men raping her daughter.

Natalie Kendrick, who started the #lionmama fundraising initative told The Daily Vox that she felt motivated to do something after reading about the story on Twitter. “It was an amazing story and as it was written largely using quotes it felt very personal, and I felt very much for the mother and daughter,” she said. Kendrick also said South African Twitter was rallying behind the woman and her daughter because they too felt she shouldn’t have to worry about going to prison for defending her daughter.

After the crowdfunding link was shared widely on social media, legal firm Law For All offered to represent the mother and vowed to facilitate the funds raised by Kendrick so the mother and her daughter receive trauma counselling.

The woman is expected to appear at the Lady Frere Magistrates Court on October 8. She is facing charges of murder and attempted murder.

Featured image via Generosity