The Bronkhorstspruit magistrate’s court on Friday sentenced a 57-year-old man to four life terms after convicting him of raping his girlfriend's two girls over a number of years.
The court also sentenced him to 21 years’ imprisonment for grievous bodily harm and for being in the country illegally.
All sentences are to run concurrently.
The rapist’s name has been withheld to protect the identities of the children, who were aged 13 and 15 when he was arrested in January 2020.
The Mozambican national was staying with the mother at Kameeldrift in Pretoria East and was the sole provider for the family.
National Prosecution Authority (NPA) spokesperson Lumka Mahanjana said when he bought clothes for the children, he requested sexual favours as payment.
“He would take them one by one to collect wood or feed chickens then rape them,” Mahanjana said.
She said the rapes were discovered at a family function in December 2019 when the 13-year-old asked other children there if they paid with sexual favours when their fathers bought them things.
He pleaded not guilty to the charges.
The director of public prosecution in North Gauteng, Sibongile Mzinyathi, thanked the work of the prosecutor and the investigating team that led to the conviction and sentence.
Mzinyathi said he wanted to assure the community that prosecuting crimes of gender-based violence remained a priority for the NPA.
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