Man sentenced to life imprisonment for rape of six-year-old neighbour
The grandmother took the complainant to the clinic and subsequently the Madadeni Thuthuzela Care Centre (TCC) where they confirmed that she had been raped. The complainant only later told her grandmother that it was the accused who had raped her. He was arrested thereafter.
The Madadeni Regional Court sentenced a 58-year-old man to life imprisonment for the rape of a six-year-old girl in October 2018 in Osizweni, Newcastle. The complainant and accused were neighbours and were known to each other.
One afternoon when the complainant was on her way to play with her friends, the accused called her and gave her money to go buy cigarettes for him. When she returned with the cigarettes, he grabbed her and pulled her into his house where he raped her.
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Thereafter, he threatened her saying that he would kill her and her family if she told anyone about what had happened.
The complainant ran home and, fearing what the accused had said, she remained silent about what had happened. A week later, her grandmother noticed that the complainant’s behaviour had changed, as she was irritable and angry.
The grandmother took the complainant to the clinic and subsequently the Madadeni Thuthuzela Care Centre (TCC) where they confirmed that she had been raped. The complainant only later told her grandmother that it was the accused who had raped her. He was arrested thereafter.
Regional spokesperson of the National Prosecuting Authority, Natasha Ramkisson-Kara, said, “In the state’s case, Prosecutor Cindy Alberts handed in a victim impact statement (VIS) compiled by the mother of the complainant. In the statement she said that the incident had a significant impact on the complainant, affecting her academically, emotionally, and physically. The accused was sentenced accordingly and the court found him unsuitable to work with children. In addition, the court ordered that his name be entered into the National Register for Sex Offenders.”
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The NPA welcomed this successful prosecution.
“Sentences of this nature demonstrate that we and our partners in the justice cluster are serious about fighting the scourge of sexual offences and gender-based violence,” Ramkisson-Kara concluded.
