Johannesburg - A 46-year-old man has been sentenced to two life terms of imprisonment for the rape of his nieces, aged 13 and six-years-old.
The man was sentenced in the Madadeni Regional Court in Newcastle, KwaZulu-Natal.
The National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) regional spokesperson, Natasha Ramkisson-Kara, said that the girls in this matter are cousins, and they were raped on various occasions by the man who lived with them in the same homestead.
"In 2015, he raped a 13-year-old girl on two different occasions when her granny was not around. The six-year-old was raped in 2019, also when she was alone at home. The man had threatened them not to tell anyone. Eventually, they confided in each other, and their violations came to light. The man was soon arrested, and the girls were taken to the Madadeni Thuthuzela Care Centre, where they received the necessary psycho-social services, counselling, and support," said Ramkisson-Kara.
Ramkisson-Kara said that the man was sentenced to life imprisonment for each of the rapes. Further, the court declared him unfit to possess a firearm; unsuitable to work with children, and an order was made that his name be entered into the National Register for Sex Offenders.
In KwaZulu-Natal, a 29-year-old man was sentenced to life imprisonment for the rape of an 8-year-old girl on diverse occasions in September 2021 in the Cato Manor area.
According to the NPA, the child, who was friends with the man’s stepdaughter (also eight-years-old), was raped on different occasions.
"He threatened to kill her or rape her friend (his stepdaughter) if she told anyone. The child’s mother eventually noticed that something was wrong with the child and asked her about it. The child was initially reluctant to disclose her abuser, as she was still afraid of the man; however, his identity was eventually revealed, and he was arrested soon after," said the NPA.
Meanwhile, child rights organisation Woman and Men Against Child Abuse (WAMACA) says that a man accused of sexually assaulting a young boy while working as a teacher at Rondebosch Boys Preparatory School in the 1980s will make another appearance at the Wynberg Magistrate’s Court today.
According to the organisation, the hearing today is for the outcome of consultations between the victim and the prosecutor.
"We also expect his charges to be read out and for him to plead guilty to those charges. A trial date should be arranged thereafter. Once this case is concluded, we expect the international criminal process to proceed.
To date, only one victim has come forward, along with a corroborating witness, but we believe there are many more. The 83-year-old allegedly sexually assaulted the victim, who was in Standard 5 at the time. He’s also facing extradition to the UK for similar crimes that he committed there. Forty victims have come forward in that case," added WAMACA.
The Star