By Garry Hertzberg, practicing attorney at Dewey Hertzberg levy and Host of the Laws of Life with Garry Hertzberg on Cliffcentral.com
In South Africa, someone is raped or sexually abused every 17 seconds and 13 800 children are victims of sexual abuse every year.
It is the most shocking statistic I have ever heard and it sickens me to the pit of my stomach. It is as if these monsters act with impunity without fear of any kind of punishment.
While perhaps it seems that way, a very recent appeal heard in the Johannesburg High Court is a warning to anyone who thinks that they can abuse our children and get away with it. A man was accused of raping his eight-year-old stepdaughter, after drugging his wife, the mother, by putting sleeping pills into her coffee to put her into a deep sleep.
He was found guilty in the Magistrates’ Court and sentenced to 15 years in prison, five of which were be suspended. This is far below the mandatory minimum sentence for raping a child.
The rapist had the nerve to take the conviction on appeal to the High Court, hoping to get something more lenient, even though the judge warned him that his sentence could be increased. The appellant went ahead with his appeal and the young girl testified against him again. The girl testified that the man had drugged her mother into a deep sleep and that he had then raped her.
This time, the Appeal Court was merciless and set aside the 15-year sentence and replaced it with life in jail.
This confirmed that our children are entitled to be protected and the court recognised that it has a duty to send a clear message to perpetrators of this crime and potential rapists that the court will be unforgiving.
It is encouraging to see the role of the court in preventing or discouraging behaviour of this sort. Crime in South Africa, including sexual assault, is out of control and the courts have a part to play in curbing crime by being seen to be tough on these sexual predators.
