LIFE AND 28 YEARS IMPRISONMENT FOR RAPE, KIDNAPPING, ASSAULT AND ROBBERY
The Nongoma Regional Court has sentenced a 42-year-old man to life and 28 years imprisonment for the rape (on diverse occasions), kidnapping, assault, and robbery of a 34-year-old woman in the Manzimakhulu area in February 2020. The accused visited the community where the complainant resided, pretending to be a pastor. He and the complainant got involved in a romantic relationship and he then asked her to visit him at his home in Manzimakhulu to meet his mother. On 28 February 2020, the complainant took her minor child and visited the accused’s home. When she arrived, she realised he was living alone in an abandoned two-room house. He told her that he had lied about being a pastor.
He demanded that she undress and then raped her twice. When she protested, he assaulted her with open hands and fists. He locked her and the child in the two-room house and took away her cell phone so that she could not contact her family members. From then, until 10 March 2020, the accused raped the complainant daily and assaulted her repeatedly, causing her to suffer multiple bruises, swelling and lacerations on her face and body. He did this in the presence of her child. The accused guarded the complainant whenever she needed to go outside to use the toilet or bathe herself and her child, and he threatened to kill her and the child and even burn down her family home if she attempted to escape. During this time, he also assaulted and threatened the complainant with a bush knife and demanded that she give him her SASSA Child Grant card as well as the PIN for the card. She initially refused, but due to the assault and threat of the weapon, she eventually complied.
The accused used the card to withdraw the child support grant and used the money for himself. The complainant eventually escaped when the accused left the house door unlocked. She fled to a neighbouring house and was taken to another house where a policeman lived. She relayed her incident to the policeman who then took her to the police station and a case was opened. The accused fled his home but was traced by police and arrested a week later.
In court, Prosecutor Busisiwe Mfeka led the testimonies of the complainant and the first reports, as well as medical and DNA reports. In aggravation of the sentence, Mfeka submitted a Victim Impact Statement, compiled by the complainant, and facilitated by Court Preparation Officer Bhekithemba Hopewell Sithole. In her statement, the woman said that she was so terrified during her ordeal that she did not even sleep when the accused slept, for fear that he may harm her child. She also said that the child has been traumatised since she had witnessed the rape and assault of the complainant. The accused was sentenced to life imprisonment for rape, five years imprisonment for kidnapping, four years imprisonment for assault GBH, one-year imprisonment for assault common, 15 years imprisonment for robbery with aggravating circumstances and three years imprisonment for theft. The court ordered that all the sentences run concurrently with life, resulting in the effective sentence of life imprisonment. In addition, the accused was declared unfit to possess a firearm.
The NPA welcomes the successful finalisation of this matter. Curbing the scourge of gender-based violence remains one of the organisation’s top priorities. We also urge members of the community to speak out about these offences and be on the lookout for such cases. We commend the work done by the prosecution and the police in securing the conviction.
