NPA GRANTED LEAVE TO APPEAL INAPPROPRIATELY LENIENT SENTENCE
The High Court of South Africa, Eastern Cape Division, sitting in Mthatha, has granted the Eastern Cape Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP), leave to appeal a sentence imposed by the Mthatha Regional Court, where a man was sentenced to five years imprisonment, for raping a nine-year-old girl. The Regional Court Magistrate sentenced Siya Mandisi Qongqo (45), to five years, according to Section 276 (1) (i), of the Criminal Procedure Act, which provides that he be eligible for consideration for parole after serving only ten months in prison.l
Qongqo pleaded guilty to raping the pre-teen girl on 05 June 2021 at the sanctuary of her home in KwaNonkobe Location in the district of Mthatha. In his plea explanation, he blamed his crime on the fact that he was intoxicated and didn’t remember even arriving at the victim’s home. The Regional Court accepted that as a mitigating factor.
Upon learning about the anomaly made by the Regional Court when sentencing Qongqo on 30 March 2022, the DPP approached the High Court for leave to appeal.
The DPP argued that the lower court erred in placing an over-emphasis on the fact that Qonqgo had consumed alcohol and that he showed remorse. This is despite the fact the court acknowledged that the prosecutor alluded that it had the duty to sentence him to life, as prescribed by the Minimum Sentences Act.
The granting of leave to appeal provides the DPP with the opportunity to make an appeal against the sentence to the full bench of the Eastern Cape Division of the High Court, where all facts regarding the shockingly inappropriate sentence will be aired.
