Boyfriend arrested for murder and rape of girlfriend’s 8-year-old daughter

A 27-year-old man appeared in court on Tuesday, accused of raping and murdering his girlfriend’s eight-year-old daughter in Rustenburg, North West.

Mothobi Moagi was charged with the crimes after the child’s mother found her lifeless body on the sofa in their home in Ikageng village, Boitekong.

According to Lieutenant-Colonel Amanda Funani, “The mother had left her two daughters, aged four and eight, with her boyfriend on Saturday night. When she returned in the early hours of Sunday morning, she found the eight-year-old’s body on the sofa. It is suspected that the child was strangled after being raped.”

Moagi was taken in for questioning on Sunday and made his first court appearance on Tuesday.

The matter was postponed until September 10 for a formal bail application.

Provincial police commissioner Lieutenant-General Sello Kwena condemned the incident, saying the child was killed by someone who was supposed to protect her.

He instructed Boitekong detectives to ensure justice is served.

ALSO READ: Pastor gets life for raping girl at a playground in Mbombela

Child rape cases in the past week

Unfortunately there were a series of other child rape cases in the past week. In three separate cases, two men were arrested and charged for the rape of minors, while the police are still searching for one suspect.

In the first incident, a 34-year-old man was sentenced to 25 years imprisonment for repeatedly raping his 10-year-old neighbour.

According to police reports the accused raped the minor in an outside toilet. He then intimidated the victim against reporting the incident.

In another incident, two teenage girls aged 16 and 17 were raped in Mzinti, Mpumalanga.

“The man allegedly pulled a gun on the two girls, leading them into the bushes, where he raped them.”

The incident happened on Tuesday when the victims were walking to school. The police are still searching for the perpetrator.

Lastly, a pastor in Mbombela was sentenced to life imprisonment for raping a 14-year-old girl in 2020.

The teeanger was on her way to the shops when the accused offered her a lift and instead of dropping her off at the intended destination, he made a detour and took her to a playground where he committed the crime.

ALSO READ: Man who kidnapped, raped two girls and forced them to make child pornography found guilty

Stats SA rape cases

The number of children raped and sexually assaulted in South Africa is alarming. According to a report published by Statistics South Africa earlier this year, “rape cases for children increased by 6.3 percentage points between 2015/16 and 2019/20”.

“A comparison between the total reported cases of rape and sexual assault to police compared to those registered for children aged 17 years and younger shows consistently higher per capita rape and assault rates among children,” the report read.

It was reported that the total per capita rape rate in children remained at 70 per 100 000 population from 2015/2016 to date.

“Sexual assault rates were notably lower compared to rape rates, but per capita sexual assault was nearly twice as high among children as it was in the general population.”