A man who raped his stepdaughter was on Monday sentenced in the Thembisa magistrate's court to two life imprisonment terms.
The man raped the girl in 2015 when she was seven years old and again in 2019 when she was 11.
National Prosecution Authority (NPA) spokesperson Phindi Mjonondwane said, in April 2019 the girl's mother left for work, leaving her and her younger brother, aged five, with their stepfather.
He woke her during the night and said she must go to his bedroom. She started crying and her younger brother awoke and looked at her before he fell asleep again.
“In the bedroom, he raped her and told her if she told her mother, all her future endeavours would fail.”
The next morning, her mother returned from work and the boy told her his sister was crying in the night.
The mother inquired why and she at first lied as she feared what the accused had told her. She said a cat scratched her.
“She was crying hysterically, the mother kept probing her as her explanation about ‘the cat’ didn’t make sense. She then told her mother what her stepfather did to her.”
They went to the Thuthuzela care centre in Tembisa Hospital where the girl was examined.
Two life terms for Thembisa man who raped young stepdaughter
Image: 123RF
A man who raped his stepdaughter was on Monday sentenced in the Thembisa magistrate's court to two life imprisonment terms.
The man raped the girl in 2015 when she was seven years old and again in 2019 when she was 11.
National Prosecution Authority (NPA) spokesperson Phindi Mjonondwane said, in April 2019 the girl's mother left for work, leaving her and her younger brother, aged five, with their stepfather.
He woke her during the night and said she must go to his bedroom. She started crying and her younger brother awoke and looked at her before he fell asleep again.
“In the bedroom, he raped her and told her if she told her mother, all her future endeavours would fail.”
The next morning, her mother returned from work and the boy told her his sister was crying in the night.
The mother inquired why and she at first lied as she feared what the accused had told her. She said a cat scratched her.
“She was crying hysterically, the mother kept probing her as her explanation about ‘the cat’ didn’t make sense. She then told her mother what her stepfather did to her.”
They went to the Thuthuzela care centre in Tembisa Hospital where the girl was examined.
Court hands lengthy sentence to father 'who found God in prison' after sexually violating his children
Fresh injuries were discovered and the doctor “found an old cleft showing past sexual penetration”.
“The child revealed that, in 2015, she awoke because of pain in her private parts. She noticed her pyjama shorts and panty were pulled to her knees and saw her stepfather hurrying out of her room naked. She didn’t know what happened, so she never told anyone.”
The doctor confirmed the old cleft was consistent with previous penetration.
Prosecutor Adele Erasmus said the rapes occurred within the family unit where the child thought she was safe and protected.
Erasmus added the stepfather “deserved no mercy as he abused his position as a father figure and tried to manipulate the complainant to conceal the rapes”.
The sentences will run concurrently and his name will be added to the register of sexual offenders, the NPA said.
TimesLIVE
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