LIFE IMPRISONMENT FOR RAPIST COUSIN
The Ezakheni Regional Court has sentenced a 21-year-old man to a term of life imprisonment for the rape of his 11-year-old cousin in February 2023. The accused lived next door to the complainant and on the day of the incident, he and the complainant as well as some others were playing a game of hide and seek. The accused called the complainant into his room to hide there so that the others could not find her. While in his room, he raped her. Thereafter he let her go outside but threatened to hit her if she told anyone about what he had done. The complainant reported the incident to her granny a few months later. The Police were called, and the accused was arrested.
In aggravation of the sentence, Prosecutor Lieketseng Mphomane handed in a Victim Impact Statement compiled by the complainant and facilitated by Court Preparation Officer, Khulekani Professor Mthembu. In her statement, the complainant said that she did not expect her cousin to do that to her because she trusted him. She said that she was hurt by the fact that he did not even apologise to her for what he had done. The accused was sentenced accordingly, and he was declared unfit to possess a firearm. Further, the court found him unfit to work with children and ordered that his name be listed in the National Register for Sex Offenders.
The NPA welcomes the successful finalisation of this matter. Together with our partners in the crime prevention cluster, we are mandated to fight for justice on behalf of the victims of crime.
