UPDATE: Community welcomes truck driver rapist’s life sentence

UPDATE: April 4, 2014, 9:39am: Following the life sentencing of Arumugam Moonsamy Naidoo, who was found guilty of a six-year-old child’s brutal rape, the community are relieved and glad that justice was meted out.

As the court proceedings took place yesterday at the Durban Regional Court, community members and leaders watched as the accused stood in the dock quietly without moving.

Tears were shed by almost every individual in the room when graphic details about the child’s rape were read out.

Nevertheless, when Judge Siphiwe Hlophe announced the sentencing, everyone was glad that justice was served. Nombuso Ndumo of the ANC Women’s League who was present with her team, said, “We are pleased that he was given such a lengthy sentence and wasn’t let off the hook easily. This sentencing will hopefully send out a strong and clear message to perpetrators that rape will not be tolerated. Despite him being a first time offender, he has gotten what he deserved.”

UPDATE: April 3, 2014, 15:14pm: The 38-year-old Phoenix truck driver, Arumugam Moonsamy Naidoo, who was found guilty of raping, abducting and assaulting a six-year-old Montclair child, received life imprisonment earlier today in the Durban Regional Court.

Naidoo, who was attired in a blue jacket and a pair of jeans, held his head down throughout the court proceedings and was sentenced to three years for abduction and ten years for assault with intent to do grievous bodily harm, which are to run concurrently with his life sentence. In passing judgement, Judge Siphiwe Hlophe wanted to understand what motivated Naidoo to commit such a heinous crime. Through his attorney, Naidoo said that he was under stress also citing frustration. Despite this, Naidoo was fully aware of what he was doing at the time.

Describing the vile act, Judge Hlope said that Naidoo had picked up the child while she was walking home from school. He placed the victim in the bed behind the seat. He penetrated her rectum twice before inserting his finger causing her to bleed profusely. He then inserted his penis into her vagina and sexually assaulted her four times before tying her arms with a plastic bag, assaulting her with a brick and dumping her in a bush in Edwin Swales. The J88 medical form revealed that the victim’s vagina was swollen and bleeding as well as her hymen.

The medical report also revealed that the child had red lines on both her thighs, her left arm and right eye were swollen, her left ear was bleeding and swollen, her skin was removed on the left side of her head and that there were multiple scars on her face. Judge Hlope added that the family was left severely traumatised from the whole incident especially the child’s mother who has lost her appetite and has thoughts of wanting to commit suicide due to the fact that her child lost her virginity in such a cruel manner.

The victim, who turned seven recently, is now beside herself, very absent minded, refuses to play with children and is also very scared of Indian people. When the sentencing was passed, cries and sighs of relief were heard in the courtroom.

Naidoo will be named and shamed on the sexual offenders register and has been deemed unfit to work with children.

Initial report: Arumugam Moonsamy Naidoo, the Durban truck driver, who is accused of kidnapping and raping a six-year-old Montclair pupil, will appear in the Durban Regional Court today for sentencing. The charges against the accused include abduction, attempted murder and assault with the intent to do grievous bodily harm. Naidoo is facing a minimum life sentence should he be found guilty of the heinous crime. At the previous court case, the prosecution demanded that the accused be given a maximum life sentence as he was a ‘danger to society’. The victim was believed to have been walking home from school in Montclair, when she was abducted, brutally assaulted and raped vaginally and anally by the 38-year-old before she was dumped in a bush in Edwin Swales. The child was found the following morning battered and bruised. The victim had just turned seven last week and is still traumatised from the horrific incident.

Updates to follow