A 27-year-old Atteridgeville man was recently sentenced by the Pretoria Magistrate’s Court to life in prison for the rape of his seven-year-old cousin.
The judgment was handed down on September 10 and the offender’s name has been added to the National Register for Sexual Offenders and the National Children’s Register to never work with children. He was also declared unfit to possess a firearm.
The incident in question took place in late April 2019 while the offender was on parole for assaulting the same victim on previous occasions.
The man was sentenced to five years of direct imprisonment for raping the same child when she was five years old and her 10-year-old sister in 2017. After serving only two years of his sentence in prison, he was released on parole.
“After his release on parole, on April 30 in 2019, the man and the child were at their family home in Atteridgeville with the rest of their family, preparing for the funeral of the child’s mother.
During the day while the family was conducting a home service, the child was sent to fetch water from a tap inside the yard. The man then snatched the child, dragged her into his room and raped her,” said National Prosecution Authority (NPA) regional spokesperson, Lumka Mahanjana.
The child informed the family after the incident and the family contacted the police. The man turned himself into the Atteridgeville police station where he remained in custody.
The man pleaded not guilty in court however the state’s evidence was overwhelming and he was convicted.
During sentencing, the defence urged the judge to take into consideration the five years the offender had spent remanded in custody awaiting trial.
State advocate Dru Ramsamy however, asked the court to impose a sentence of life imprisonment and further, argued that the man’s previous conviction did not deter him from committing the same offence to the same child.
“The fact that the man committed the same offence while out on parole shows his disregard for the law. He violated the child in a most gruesome way while mourning the passing of her mother. As an older cousin, he was supposed to protect the child, instead, he raped her,” argued Ramsamy.
Ramsamy also handed in the Victim Impact Statement (VIS) facilitated by the Court Preparation Officer (CPO) where the victim wrote about how the incident left her with physical scars.
“As such whether the man goes to jail or not it will not change the psychological damage he has done,” part of the statement read by CPO Kgomotso Lodi.
When handing down the sentence Magistrate Nosipho Gcawu said the man showed no remorse for the offence, and he never learnt from the sentence of imprisonment he previously served for committing the same offence.
“The accused was convicted of a cruel crime which is a major problem that the most vulnerable members of society are facing in the country. What is more heartless is that he violated the complainant for the second time on the eve of her mother’s funeral who was reported to have been murdered by her boyfriend,” Gcawu said.
Gcawu also highlighted the responsibility of the courts to ensure the protection of victims and the community. Therefore, she ruled that there were no substantial and compelling reasons to deviate from imposing the prescribed minimum sentence.
Mahanjana said the NPA welcomed the sentencing and hopes that it will send a strong message to society that such crimes of sexual violence violate the rights of victims and will not be tolerated.
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