Teacher gets life for rape

29 July 2015 - 02:09 By S'duduzo Dludla

The HIV-positive Soweto primary school teacher who raped a boy at the school has been sentenced to life imprisonment. Magistrate Audrey Mpofu found in the Protea Magistrate's Court in Soweto yesterday that there was no reason for her to give the 46-year-old teacher a lesser sentence than the prescribed minimum of life for the rape of a child younger than 16.In April, Mpofu found the teacher, who cannot be identified in order to protect the identity of the minor complainant, guilty of raping the boy, then aged 10, on school premises in November 2013.Yesterday, defence attorney Jaco Strydom pleaded with the court for a lesser sentence. He said the man had been in custody for almost two years and had lost his house and cars as well as the retirement fund he had accumulated over his 17-year career.His five children were living with their paternal grandmother as their mother had been in hospital for two months, Strydom said.Prosecutor Cheryl Slack called for the life sentence. She said the man did not use a condom when he raped the boy, placing the boy in danger of being infected with HIV.Mpofu said the man was educated and was fully aware of the effects of HIV because he had been living with the virus for eight years...

There’s never been a more important time to support independent media.

From World War 1 to present-day cosmopolitan South Africa and beyond, the Sunday Times has been a pillar in covering the stories that matter to you.

For just R80 you can become a premium member (digital access) and support a publication that has played an important political and social role in South Africa for over a century of Sundays. You can cancel anytime.

Already subscribed? Sign in below.



Questions or problems? Email helpdesk@timeslive.co.za or call 0860 52 52 00.