TALL, masculine and well groomed, a 50-year-old former teacher stood emotionless in the dock at the Empangeni Magistrate Court on Wednesday
as Magistrate Busisiwe Kheswa retold the traumatic sequence of how he had repeatedly raped an 11year-old girl.
Arrested in 2009, charged and found guilty for three counts of rape, Nkosingiphile Hlekwayo of Nseleni was sentenced to life imprisonment.
‘The court finds no substantial evidence to justify a lesser sentence and therefore you shall be sentenced to life imprisonment for each count totalling three, which are to run concurrently,’ said Kheswa.
‘In addition to this, your details will be recorded in the National Register of Sexual Offenders,’ she added.
Husband, father of five and grandfather to four, Hlekwayo at the time was a teacher at Mzuvukile Primary School in Nseleni holding a diploma in education and school management as well as a certificate in Adult Basic Education and Development.
According to a medical report, Hlekwayo violently raped the victim three times over a period of three days, causing serious physical and emotional damage.
‘When the trauma is inflicted by a person the child knows, it has longer-lasting effects,’ said Kheswa.
‘You took advantage of a little girl who trusted and loved you as her class teacher. You violated, abused, threatened to chase her from school and kill her if she spoke up,’ she added.
‘You have not shown any remorse in your actions during this case despite all evidence,’ she added.
Former member of Mzuvukile Primary School Governing Body committee, party representative councillor in Nseleni and parent Lindiwe Zulu said that the community of Nseleni had been waiting for this day.
‘We are overjoyed about the outcome,’ she said.
‘He deserves what he has received and we will not accept people like him in our community.
‘I organised marches against this and my life was threatened at one stage by his supporters.
‘But I persisted because I am adamant about the protection of women and children against these disgusting crimes.
‘I am a mother myself and I cannot stand for my or any other child to be abused,’ she said.
