A woman who was trafficked from the Eastern Cape to the Western Cape gave a chilling victim impact statement in the Cape Town Regional Court during sentencing proceedings of her rapist.
At the time of her incident, the victim was only 16-years-old.
She was trafficked to Cape Town where she was married off to a man older than her mother.
Initially being held in Khayelitsha, she was continuously raped, until injuries to her genitalia resulted in her heading to a clinic where a nurse heard her plight and contacted a relative who rescued her from her situation.
She also contracted a sexually transmitted disease.
Ayanda Wellington Vellem, 58, was sentenced to life imprisonment for trafficking in persons for sexual purposes; nine months imprisonment for failure to comply with the requirements of a valid customary marriage, life imprisonment for rape, and six months imprisonment for assault.
The court ordered the sentences to run concurrently, effectively sentencing him to life imprisonment. The court ordered his name be entered into the National Register of Sex Offenders and the National Child Protection Register. It further declared him unfit to possess a firearm.
Western Cape spokesperson for the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA), Eric Ntabazalila said while they welcomed the sentence, the damage and the pain caused can only be told by the survivor.
The victim impact statement was compiled with the assistance of the Court Preparation Officer, Babalwa Hlatana.
In her words, the survivor said she was still traumatised by what has happened, and as a result no longer trusts or has any love for men.
“I was deprived of my youth. I never enjoyed life like other kids. I have anger issues, and I am always scared. I was forced to get married to a man who was a year older than my mom. This man is supposed to be my father. I was only 16-years-old.
“he pain of sleeping with someone who’s old [enough] to be your father is so unbearable. I wouldn’t even say something or have a voice because I was told that I must stop acting. I feel like he took advantage of a vulnerable young girl who couldn’t even speak for herself,” the statement said.
She recalled how she’d be fine during the day but this would change when she knew she had to go to bed with this man. The woman said she still has a vivid picture of everything that has happened.
“I was a young girl who was helpless and couldn’t fight for herself. I am so grateful to God that I never fell pregnant because things could have been worse. The child would have been a constant reminder of what happened to me. Sometimes I would ask myself why he chose me. I believe there were so many girls in my village who were almost the same age as him. Is it because I didn’t have parents? I always ask myself those questions, but unfortunately, there are no answers,” it read.
She expressed that her life will never be the same again.
“I feel like I am a useless human being. I feel like I can’t expect more from a person that I am dating because I feel like I’m second-hand goods or furniture. My freedom was taken away from me. It is so difficult but what choice do I have?” she questioned.
After escaping the clutches of Vellem, she wanted her childhood back, she said she even wanted to play with other children at the time but things were never easy. She also expressed that one of the saddest things is that her family in the Eastern Cape are not being educated on matters such as this.
“It made me scared to even go home because people might judge me. I don’t have a close relationship with my family because of this. My love life is being affected because I cannot be free and love fully while in a relationship.
“I don’t have bruises and wounds that anybody can see but I am living with something that I cannot wash away. Something that will never vanish. My scars are not visible, but they are tearing me apart,” she concluded.
robin.francke@iol.co.za
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