The Worcester Regional Court has sentenced a 50-year-old child rapist to life imprisonment and ordered that his name be entered into the National Register for Sex Offenders and the Child Protection Register. It also declared him unfit to possess a firearm.
The State is not naming the accused as he was a close friend of the 10-year-old victim’s family and naming him may directly or indirectly identify her.
Regional Court prosecutor Elton Willemse led evidence that on the evening of 25 November 2017, the victim’s mother left her (victim) and her brother in the care of the accused’s wife while she was out to look for her husband.
At the time they were staying at Droeheuwel, Robertson.
During the night the victim, her brother and the accused’s son slept at the bottom part of the bed while the accused and his wife slept at the top part of the bed. While asleep, she felt someone pulling down her underwear and when she woke up, she saw that it was the accused.
She asked him what he was doing and threatened to tell her father about what he was doing. He instructed her to remain still, but she screamed and cried attempting to make a stop or for her to get help. He raped her.
His wife woke up later and found the victim and her brother sitting on the couch waiting for the wife to take them home. When they got home, she asked her father to call the police because the accused raped her.
She requested the presence of the accused’s wife. The matter was immediately reported to the police and the accused was arrested two days later. She was medically examined at the local hospital. In his arguments, Willemse revealed that the accused fathered a child with a 15-year-old in an affair which lasted a year.
He further argued that this indicated that the accused had engaged in sexual conduct with a minor who could not have legally consented to sexual intercourse with him. He told the court that the pre-sentence showed that the accused was not remorseful for raping the victim as he insisted that the victim and her family were lying about the incident.
He clearly showed no empathy towards the victim. Instead, he blames the victim and her parents for his woes. He did not take responsibility for his actions. The victim had to come to court and testify about the horrific ordeal she experienced when the accused raped her.
The State submitted that there were no substantial and compelling circumstances to deviate from the imposition of the prescribed minimum sentence of life imprisonment because of the accused’s lack of remorse, the nature and extent of the injuries sustained by the complainant, the betrayal of the victim’s trust as well as those of her parents, the presence of the accused’s wife in the same bed did not deter him from raping the victim and the young age of the victim who was traumatized and sexualized as a result of the conduct of the accused.
Rape against vulnerable groups of society, of which she formed part as a young child needed protection from the courts, especially when it is referred to as being a pandemic in our country.
Western Cape Director of Public Prosecutions, Advocate Nicolette Bell, applauded the determination that was displayed by the young victim who testified in person on what happened to her, which assisted the prosecutor in ensuring justice for her and her family who are equally affected by this heinous crime. She added these types of cases provide some justice and closure to the victims and their families and remove violent criminals from our society.