Shepherd who raped 13-year-old girl sentenced to 22 years in jail

A 35-year-old man who raped a 13-year-old girl at Dewetsdorp in the Free State in January this year has been sentenced to 22 years in prison. 

Bloemfontein regional magistrate Mxolisi Saliwa imposed the sentence on Poloko David Motsukunyane after he had pleaded guilty to the rape that took place on January 29. 

“The victim and her friend were walking home in Dewetsdorp when the accused, who was a shepherd and tending to livestock at the time, chased the two girls. He caught the complainant and raped her.

“He threatened to kill her should she report the matter,” National Prosecuting   Authority spokesperson Phaladi Shuping said. 

The girl did not report the matter when she arrived home, but community members heard of the incident and assaulted the accused. Police rescued the accused and he was taken for medical attention.

“The complainant was sent to Tshepong Thuthuzela Care Centre for medical examination.” 

Shuping said Motsukunyane’s lawyer, in mitigation of sentence, argued for a lesser sentence as the accused had been in custody for eight months and had pleaded guilty. The lawyer said the accused saved the victim from the further trauma of testifying in court and having to relive the incident.

However, prosecutor Louis York read into the record the victim impact statement facilitated by Maggie Faas in which the victim stated that the incident had changed her life in that she was now afraid of men and could not sleep at night.

She said the rape affected her school performance. 

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