Child rapist gets life sentence
A man who repeatedly raped his stepdaughter during 2020 and 2021 received a life sentence at the Modimolle Regional Court last week.
The court heard that the man took the 15-year-old girl with him to clear a new stand in Jasper, Phagameng. With no one present, he raped the girl. After the family moved to their new place in Jasper, the child’s mother woke her up one night, saying the stepfather must perform church rituals on her. The girl was then raped again. The court heard that the stepfather continued his abuse of the girl.
The mother denied all knowledge of the crimes in court. The accused’s name is being withheld to protect the identity of the child.
The court ordered that the man’s particulars be included in the Register of Sexual Offenders.
- In another case in Modimolle, Joseph Maruane (26) was sentenced to six years imprisonment for attempted rape by the same court.
On 12 November 2021, he approached a woman he knew who was walking home alone at night along the R101 road next to Extension 9 in Phagameng. It was testified in court that the woman rejected his advances, whereafter he tried to rape her. She defended herself from Maruane’s attack. He fled when a vehicle approached the scene.
The victim, who sustained several injuries, was rescued by the driver and taken to the local police station.
In both cases the investigating officer was Sgt. Tukakgomo Motlatjo Jerida of the Modimolle Family Violence, Child Protection and Sexual Offences (FCS) unit.
