South African police are investigating reports that a gang is using fake minibus taxis to lure and rape women in the commercial capital Johannesburg.

One woman has given shocking details to local media  on how she was gang-raped.

She said that on Sunday, while with her 10-year-old son, she hailed a taxi. The men in the vehicle then her held at gunpoint and raped her, while her son was ordered to lie face-down on the floor.

The woman, who spoke to Eyewitness News, said the ordeal lasted for four hours.

Speaking of her fear for her son, she said: "the whole time that I was there was praying that they wouldn’t even touch him.”

The woman says she hopes that by speaking about the incident, she can encourage other victims to come forward, and potentially help prevent more attacks, EWN reports.

South Africa has some of the highest rates of rape in the world.

Lieutenant-Colonel Lungelo Dlamini told the BBC that the suspects were armed and travelling in Toyota vans.

He added: "A group of three to four men driving in two separate Quantams, one grey and another white, pick up women pretending to be a taxi, rob them at gun point and then proceed to rape them.”