A DOCTOR bit off the tongue of her would-be rapist when he attacked her as she slept in her hospital’s staff quarters.

The 24-year-old fought back when the man, who had gained access to the South African hospital posing as a patient, tried to force his tongue into her mouth.

2 The man was apprehended while seeking treatment at another hospital nearby Credit: Facebook

The bite was so severe that it detached part of the attacker’s tongue, police said. He then fled the room leaving a trail of blood behind him.

Police put out an alert to all nearby hospitals to look out for a man seeking urgent treatment for a mouth wound.

Shortly afterwards medics at a nearby hospital reported that a man had come in with wounds to his tongue.

The 32-year-old was arrested before being driven back to the hospital where the attack took place so he could be identified by the victim.

He was then taken to another hospital to undergo specialist surgery, and will appear before magistrates when he is well enough to leave hospital.

CRIME IN SOUTH AFRICA Crime in South Africa has been declining since the end of the apartheid regime in 1994, but it still has one of the highest rates of crime in the world. The rate of murder per 100,000 inhabitants declined continuously in the decades after 1994, when it reached its peak of 67. It fell to 30.1 in 2011, but has begun to climb again in the years since. It currently stands at 35.8, compared to 1.2 in the UK. Its rate of rape is also extremely high. In one recent survey, one in three of the 4,000 South African women questioned said they had been raped in the last year. More than a quarter of men questioned in 2009 admitted to having raped someone. Of those, almost half admitted to having raped more than one person. In September of last year, police minister Bheki Cele said that the situation in the country “borders on a war zone”.

A spokesperson for the Free State provincial health department said: “During the scuffle the doctor managed to bite off the tongue of the alleged perpetrator who ran off.

“He was later arrested and then taken for plastic surgery and was operated on under police guard and he we will be handed over to be taken before a court in due course.

“It is by the grace of God that the doctor had the strength to fight back and bite the suspects tongue off. She is currently undergoing medical tests and counselling.”

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Official crime figures for 2017/18 show 40,000 recorded rapes in South Africa, but it estimated that only one in four are reported.

It is also estimated that 40 per cent of women in South Africa will be raped in their lifetime.

2 The attacker is to undergo surgery before appearing in court Credit: Facebook

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