The Worcester Regional Court in the Western Cape has sentenced a 31-year-old man to life imprisonment after finding him guilty of raping his partner’s minor daughter.
The man – whose identity has been withheld to avoid indirectly identifying the child and secondary victimisation – committed the crime when the girl was 10 years old.
Acting regional court prosecutor Cornelius Prinsloo told the court that the man had been living with his partner, her son and the daughter when the incident happened in August 2022.
The four of them lived on a farm in Rawsonville where the man worked.
Child’s testimony and court protections
During the trial, Prinsloo led the now-13-year-old’s testimony through a closed-circuit television system.
This was done with the assistance of an intermediary in a closed court session to reduce the secondary trauma of testifying in the presence of the accused.
The child testified that she had been sleeping on the couch in the living room while the man was socialising with friends outside.
When his friends left, he entered the residence where the victim woke up to the accused covering her mouth and undressing her, she told the court.
He then proceeded to rape her and threatened to kill her if she told anyone.
Child discloses rape
The court heard that the girl did not tell anyone about what had happened until she and her mother moved to Paarl to stay with her aunt.
They moved after a domestic violence incident between her mother and the perpetrator.
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The court further heard that the child’s aunt noticed her behavioural changes and asked what was going on.
She disclosed what had happened to her in Rawsonville a month prior.
Her aunt subsequently told the girl’s mother what had happened, who then contacted the police to open a case. Police arrested him shortly after.
National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) regional spokesperson Eric Ntabazalila said the girl was referred to the Worcester Thuthuzela Care Centre.
There, she underwent medical examination, received trauma containment services, and safety planning was initiated.
“Together with a relevant child protection organisation, she was placed in safe care and therapeutic support services were put in place,” Ntabazalila said in a statement on Thursday.
The accused denied the allegations, stating that nothing happened between him and the victim.
Prosecution arguments
During sentencing, Prinsloo argued that the man took the innocence of a child who was in his care.
He said the young girl will evidently carry the consequences of his actions for the rest of her life.
This, he added, occurs against a background of a country where offences of this nature are not only prevalent, but also instil a fear of being victims of gender-based violence.
“He argued that the court has a corresponding duty to abate these fears of the most vulnerable in society and strike an opposing and corresponding fear in the minds of offenders and would be perpetrators that the courts would not hesitate to impose the prescribed minimum sentences for offences which the legislature, as representatives of the public, has ordained for certain categories of crimes which are deserving of the most severe punishments in our law,” Ntabazalila said.
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Impact statement and final court findings
Prinsloo further argued that there were no substantial and compelling circumstances before the court that warranted a deviation from the prescribed sentence of life imprisonment.
The prosecutor also submitted a victim impact statement in which the girl described how her life changed after her rape.
She said she loved school, but lost interest after the rape.
The girl further said that her mother blamed her for her rape and for her partner’s imprisonment.
She also detailed how hearing that from her mother hurts her and makes her cry.
The girl goes on to say she still has nightmares about what happened and wakes up at night.
She said her biological father cares about her and always wants to know her whereabouts. He is scared that she will be raped again.
Ntabazalila said the court agreed with the state that there were substantial and compelling reasons to deviate from the prescribed sentence.
Western Cape Director of Public Prosecution advocate Nicolette Bell berated the accused for taking advantage of a minor who saw him as a father figure.
Bell expressed shock at the alleged unbecoming behaviour of the mother, who blamed the victim for the accused’s imprisonment.
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