Mpumalanga man sentenced to life for raping 9-year-old girl

A Mpumalanga man thought he had got away with raping a nine-year-old relative in 2017 until the girl broke her silence during a school sexual abuse awareness campaign in 2019, detailing her ordeal to social workers.

On the day of the rape incident, the man, a family friend, invited the girl and her younger brother under the pretext that they were going to attend his child’s party at his residence.

According to SA Police Service, the accused picked up the children from their homestead and on arrival at his house; he dropped off the brother and drove with the girl.

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“Along the way, the accused took a different direction where he drove with the victim and stopped the vehicle next to a shack near the bushes. He went inside with the victim and, after locking the door, he raped her,” Mpumalanga provincial police spokesperson Brigadier Selvy Mohlala said.

He said the perpetrator then drove back to pick up the younger brother after threatening to kill the victim if she reported the rape.

“Thereafter it is said that the accused dropped the siblings at their homestead,” Mohlala said.

Breaking the silence

He said the rape was concealed until in 2019 social workers visited the victim’s school to talk to children about the social ills that are happening around them.

Mohlala said that was when the victim broke her silence and reported that she was raped.

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He said the police were immediately alerted and a rape case was registered, with the docket assigned to the Family Violence, Child Protection and Sexual Offences Unit (FCS).

After the investigation was concluded, Mohlala said the 30-year-old accused was arrested and charged.

Maximum sentence

On Friday the Emalahleni Regional Court sentenced the 30-year-old man from Phola to life.

In court, the accused denied the allegation levelled against him. He said the evidence presented by the prosecution team convinced the court that the victim was indeed raped.

“The state further succeeded in the endeavour to get a maximum sentence for the accused in order to make an impact in the scourge of gender-based violence hence he was sentenced to life imprisonment,” Mohlala said.

Mpumalanga police commissioner Lieutenant-General Semakaleng Daphney Manamela has welcomed the sentence and thanked the investigation team, the prosecution team and the judiciary.

She hoped the sentence will serve as a deterrent.

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