Three youths have been put behind bars after a 14-year-old school girl was gang raped, robbed and then threatened with murder, Ennerdale police said on Wednesday.

Police spokesperson Constable Edwin Ntsheo said the girl was raped on Friday night after an argument between youths, her and her boyfriend.

Ntsheo said that eventually an elderly man stopped the fight but three of the youths took the girl away.

They took her to a shack and gang-raped her. Afterwards, they stole her cellphone.

"They threatened her. If she said anything they will kill her in front of her teachers at school," said Ntsheo.

She told her mother what had happened and the traumatised girl and mother reported it to the police.

The police found two of the youths walking down the road and arrested them, and found the third hiding under his bed.

The 16, 18 and 19-year-olds are expected to appear in the Sebokeng Magistrate's Court on Thursday.

Ntsheo said he did not yet have details on how the girl was coping after the rape, or the extent of her injuries.

Sapa