Local child rapist sentenced to life imprisonment for raping five-year-old girl
Aaron Baloi, who was well known in the neighbourhood, lured the girl into his room by enticing her with sweets before he raped her.
The Provincial Commissioner of the Police in Mpumalanga, Lieutenant General Mondli Zuma, said he was elated over the sentencing of a child rapist on Monday, 16 October.
This came after the Secunda Regional Court sentenced a 69-year-old man to life imprisonment for the rape of a five-year-old girl in September 2011.
Aaron Baloi, who was well known in the neighbourhood, lured the victim into his room by enticing her with sweets, then pounced on and brutally raped her.
After he was done, he threatened and instructed her not to reveal the gruesome ordeal to anyone.
In the meantime her family was looking for her and when they could not find her where she had been playing with other children, including Baloi’s own grandchildren, they called for a lookout for the missing girl.
Later that evening, they found the child who looked distraught, scared and in pain.
When asked where she was, she told her parents she had been playing with other children and got injured.
She was rushed to hospital where it was revealed that she had been raped.
Due to the severity of the injuries, the child had to be transferred to Baragwanath Hospital for further medical attention.
During the trial, the court heard that the rape had traumatised the now 11-year-old victim and her family as the perpetrator had been a trusted and respectable man in the neighbourhood.
In passing sentence, the magistrate said what Baloi did was evil and is not allowed in the society we live in, therefore he is not fit to live in a free society.
“Children are the future of our country, adults’ core responsibility is to make sure that kids are safe and protected. But you took advantage of the trust the young girl had in you. Therefore people like you must be removed from the society,” said the magistrate.
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