The Tsakane Regional Court found the 47-year-old from Tsakane Extension 13, south of Brakpan, guilty on four counts of rape of a girl (13). The court ordered the sentences to run concurrently, with his name added to the national register for sexual offenders and declared him unfit to work with children.

The court found aggravating circumstances far outweighed mitigating factors, agreeing with the state that the accused showed no remorse for the offences, said Gauteng NPA spokesperson Lumka Mahanjana. The sentence was deemed appropriate.

The perpetrator pleaded not guilty to the charges and denied raping the child, but the prosecutor, Tholwana Jessica Khakhathiba, offered evidence proving the man’s guilt.

“During sentencing, his legal representative asked the court to deviate from imposing the prescribed minimum sentence due to his ill health, which has deteriorated since his incarceration. But Khakhathiba urged for life imprisonment, because the man did not show any remorse and continued to maintain his innocence even after conviction.

“Furthermore, the man committed gruesome offences towards a defenceless child who was already suffering from a chronic illness. Not only did the man impregnate the child, he also infected her with HIV and took away her innocence.”

Raped on different occasions

The prosecutor read into the record the victim impact statement facilitated by court preparation officer Nothando Mbatha, which detailed the psychological, academic, social and physical trauma the child suffered because of the rape incidents, said Mahanjana.

She was raped four times between December 2015 and April 2016 on different occasions when she went to her grandmother’s place in Tsakane Ext 13 to assist her with house chores. 

The family friend, who is also a neighbour, would call the child to his place, rape her and threaten to kill her if she told anyone, until she fell pregnant.

In October 2016, when the girl had reportedly gone back to the doctor for her regular cancer treatment, the doctors discovered she was six months pregnant and had contracted HIV.

When the doctor enquired about the pregnancy, the child disclosed she was raped by a family friend. The mother of the child reported the matter to the police, and the family friend was arrested in November 2016.

The matter was provisionally withdrawn, but was placed back on the roll in 2020 when the neighbour was summoned by J175, a formal way of ordering an individual to appear in court, with failure to do so potentially leading to a warrant of arrest or other penalties.

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