Verdict on mother accused of two-month-old’s rape expected Tuesday

A 29-year-old Soweto woman‚ accused of raping her two-month-old baby‚ will hear her fate in the Johannesburg High Court on Tuesday.

Judgment is expected to be handed down on the four counts with which the woman was charged: rape‚ her role in facilitating a rape‚ child abuse and obstructing justice.

On the morning of November 6‚ a neighbour found the woman screaming in her room in Meadowlands‚ while her baby lay on the bed struggling to breathe.

She claimed the baby had fallen off the bed.

The pair took the baby to the hospital to receive medical attention‚ where a doctor determined that the infant’s injuries were not consistent with a fall‚ but that she in fact had been penetrated “by an object”.

Semen was also found on the child‚ who had to undergo reconstructive surgery. The mother claimed she had been with the child all night.

In its head of arguments‚ the state said that the evidence of semen proved that a male must also have been involved in the attack.

The state said that the woman‚ who denied raping or assisting in the rape of her daughter‚ had tried to hide what truly happened from the start.

“The accused‚ in her plea explanation‚ admitted that she lied to the hospital staff and SAPS to protect her husband. The proven objective facts indicate that the victim was raped.

“Furthermore‚ it is submitted that the only aspects in dispute are whether the accused herself inflicted the act of sexual penetration‚ or whether she aided and abetted another person to do so.”

The state claimed that the woman’s version of events changed constantly and were “mutually destructive”.

“The accused’s plea explanation indicated that the victim was injured when she fell on top of the victim whilst she was strapped in on the front part of the accused’s body… [but] during [the doctor’s] testimony... her version changed‚ in that the child came loose from the way she was strapped and fell to the ground‚ and that she then fell on top of the victim.”

This version changed further‚ turning into a claim that the woman actually fell with her knee on the victim’s private parts.