Rustenburg – A 47-year-old man was sentenced to life imprisonment for repeatedly raping a nine-year-old girl.
The man was the partner of the girl’s grandmother, they stayed together at Gxulu in the Keiskammahoek.
He was sentenced at the high court in the Eastern Cape, sitting in Bhisho.
According to the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA), their living arrangement was that the girl was sleeping in the kitchen while her granny and the man slept in the bedroom.
“The man would come to the kitchen during the night, undress the girl and rape her.
“He would close her mouth with his hand to prevent her from screaming and threatening to kill her if she reported the rape,” said NPA spokesperson in the Eastern Cape division, Luxolo Tyali.
"The sexual assaults continued on numerous occasions until the young girl informed her grandmother.
“However, she did not believe her but admonished her.
“The grandmother even threatened to kill the victim with a knife, if she continued ‘telling lies about her boyfriend’.
“Even after the girl told her friend, the grandmother refused to believe her,” Tyali said.
The man was only arrested after the girl told her mother after moving out of her grandmother’s home in 2021.
He pleaded not guilty during the trial, denying everything.
Prosecutor advocate Nocwaka Blorweni-Tokota, led the evidence of the girl, her mother, her friend and investigating officer, Sergeant Candy Gala, to convince the court of the man’s guilt.
IOL