Johannesburg - Nangoma Levy Michael, 29, has been sentenced to a combined 58 years imprisonment for the murder, rape, kidnapping of a 6-year-old girl, and defeating the ends of justice by the Polokwane High Court.
Michel kidnapped, raped, and murdered the 6-year-old girl, who was later found dead in the Tubatse policing area on December 3, 2021.
‘’He was charged with murder, rape, kidnapping, and defeating the ends of justice, and was ultimately found guilty as charged, convinced, and sentenced to 25 years’ imprisonment for murder, 25 years for rape, five years for kidnapping, and three years for defeating the ends of justice,’’ said SAPS spokesperson Colonel Malesela Ledwaba.
Recently, Statistician-General Risenga Maluleke found that there are twice as many children who have co-resident mothers compared to those who have co-resident fathers (77% compared to 38%) (Stats SA, 2022).
Maluleke said this living arrangement could make these children vulnerable to crime and abuse, one reason being the lack of nurturing fathers.
According to a 2018 University of Cape Town Children's Institute study, sexual assault against a child pointed out that the overall rate of sexual assault against children based on the 2016/17 crime data was 17 counts of sexual assault per 100 000 children (under 18 years).
The study stated that the figure is likely to be an undercount and reflects the low levels of reporting incidents of sexual assault to the police.
’'As in other countries, there are a large number of crimes that go unreported, either because of the sensitive nature of the crime or because of a lack of trust in the police and the child protection system more broadly. Sexual assault, in particular, is substantially under-reported, particularly where there is no visible injury,’’ reads the report.
The report added that the sexual assault rates in 2016/17 were highest in the Western Cape (47 sexual assaults per 100,000 children), followed by the Free State (26 sexual assaults per 100,000 children) and the Northern Cape (24 sexual assaults per 100,000 children).
‘’Rates were lowest in Limpopo (seven sexual assaults per 100,000 children) and Mpumalanga (eight sexual assaults per 100,000 children). It is not clear how sexual assault rates are affected by under reporting.’’
‘’Girls were more likely to be the victims of sexual assault than boys based on the reported data, and as with the rape rates, there appears to be an increase in the likelihood of experiencing sexual assault as children grow older,’’ said the report.
The Star