Durban — A man who raped a 5-year-old girl, gave her R1, sent her home and told her not to tell anyone has been sentenced to life in prison in the Ladysmith Regional Court.
The 41-year-old man to a term of life imprisonment after he pleaded guilty to raping the child in the Ladysmith area in November 2018.
KwaZulu-Natal National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) spokesperson Ramkisson-Kara, said the man knew the child as he was her neighbour and her friend’s uncle.
“On the day of the incident, the child was playing outside her house, when the man gestured to her to follow him.
“He led her to an unoccupied house in the area and raped her. He then gave her R1 and sent her home, telling her not to report this to anyone. She went home and immediately told her mother what had happened and the man was arrested thereafter,” Ramkisson-Kara said.
She said that in aggravation of sentence, prosecutor Sandisiwe Ntuli told the court that the man was an adult known to the child and was thus in a position of trust, however, he had abused that trust. Ntuli told the court that there was DNA evidence linking the man to the offence.
“The man was sentenced to life imprisonment and was declared unfit to work with children. Further, he was deemed unfit to possess a firearm and the court ordered that his name be entered into the National Register of Sex Offenders,” Ramkisson-Kara said.
Looking at the third quarter (October to December 2023) crime statistics for the financial year 2023/24, released by Police Minister Bheki Cele two weeks ago, Cele said that during the festive period, 4 783 suspects were arrested for sexual offences-related crimes such as rape and attempted rape.
“Rape declined by 1.7 % and six provinces including Gauteng, Eastern Cape, KwaZulu-Natal, Limpopo, Northern Cape and Western Cape all registered a decline in this crime category,” Cele said.
“More than 2 400 suspect raids led to 4 264 suspects being arrested for GBVF- (gender-based violence and femicide) related crimes such as rape and sexual assault.”
Cele said that most encouraging was that Inanda which had been known as the rape capital of the country, has also seen a slight reduction in the number of rape cases. It had registered 20 fewer cases registered than in the same period under review. That proved that the SAP’s Family Violence, Child Protection and Sexual Offences teams were acting decisively against those who were perpetrating rape, he said.
“What is still worrying and of great concern is that the majority of the rapes were committed at victims’ residences. The perpetrators were either neighbours, friends or family members,” Cele said.
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