MAN SENTENCED TO LIFE FOR RAPE OF A MINOR
The Kwaggafontein Regional Court convicted and sentenced Jan Petrus Nyikiza (28), from Vlaklaagte to life plus 3 years imprisonment, for the sexual assault and rape of an eleven-year-old minor girl. The victim and the accused were residing in the same yard. The victim testified in court through the intermediary services, that on 26 June 2019, the accused whom she knew as an uncle, although they were not blood-related took her to his room, where he raped her once. He threatened her not to tell anyone.
Again, on 15 August 2019, Nyikiza found the victim sitting alone on the couch in the dining room and started touching her breasts and private parts luckily someone came to the door, and the victim got a chance to get away and locked herself in the bathroom until her mother arrived. A few days later, the victim wrote a letter to her mother, explaining the rape ordeal that happened in June. Her mother confronted the accused who confessed saying that “he was tempted by the devil!” He was then taken to the police station and was subsequently arrested.
During the trial, the accused pleaded not guilty and denied all the allegations, but agreed that he indeed confessed to the mother, that he only did it because he was fearing for his life. The state prosecutor Nicky Coetzee, proceeded with a Trial-within-a-Trial. This was supported by the J88 medical report, which confirmed that the victim sustained injuries during the rape ordeal.
Magistrate Greyvenstein found the victim to be a competent witness, whose evidence was clear and satisfactory. The accused’s version of denial was rejected, and the court found the accused guilty as charged on both counts. The court found no substantial and compelling circumstances that warrant a deviation from the prescribed minimum sentence and the accused was sentenced to life imprisonment for rape and three years for sexual assault. The court ordered the sentence imposed on count two, to run concurrent with the sentence on count one, the effective sentence is life imprisonment. The accused was deemed unfit to possess a firearm and the court further ordered his name to be entered in the National Register of Sex offenders.
The National Prosecuting Authority attributed this sentence to the collaborated efforts of the justice–cluster, in maintaining law and order in ensuring that justice prevails for the victims of gender-based violence.
