Durban — A 29-year-old man has been sentenced to life imprisonment for repeatedly raping his stepdaughter’s 8-year-old friend.
The National Prosecuting Authority in KwaZulu-Natal’s spokesperson Natasha Kara said that the Durban Regional Court sentenced the 29-year-old man to life imprisonment for the rape of the child on different occasions in September, 2021, in the Cato Manor area.
Kara said that at the time of the violations, the child, who was friends with the man’s stepdaughter (also aged 8), was raped on different occasions. He threatened to kill the girl or rape her friend (his stepdaughter), if she told anyone.
Kara said that the child’s mother eventually noticed that something was wrong with the child and asked her about it. The child was initially reluctant to disclose her abuser, as she was still afraid of the man, but his identity was eventually revealed, and he was arrested.
Kara said that in aggravation of sentence, prosecutor Sibongile Mkhwanazi handed in victim impact statements compiled by the child and her mother and facilitated by the court probation officer, Prudence Geraud.
In her statement, the child said that she is now scared to play outside her home. She is always angry and is no longer happy, while her mother stated that the offence has negatively affected her marriage because she and her husband feel they have failed their child.
The child-rapist was sentenced to spend his life behind bars. The court ordered that his name be entered into the National Register for Sex Offenders and he was deemed unfit to possess a firearm, Kara said.
“Further, the court ordered that he must not be given parole without prior consultation with the child’s parents. Upon completion of his sentence, he must be deported to his home country Zimbabwe.”
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