The Palm Ridge Magistrate’s Court sentenced Germiston resident Gerhard van Deventer (68) to 15 years in prison, with five years suspended, for sexually assaulting a minor.
On March 28, the court found him guilty after a lengthy trial.
With five years suspended, he will serve 10 years in prison.
Investigating officer Detective Sergeant Steven Vukeya of the Bedfordview SAPS, based at the Germiston Family Violence, Child Protection, and Sexual Offences Unit at the time of the investigation, welcomed the conviction.
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The case began in May 2022 when a six-year-old girl was raped while living at her grandfather’s workshop in Germiston.
Her eight-year-old brother witnessed this and spoke out one day.
Van Deventer, who stayed on the same premises but was unrelated to the victim, often would assault her.
According to Ekurhuleni district communications officer Captain Neldah Sekgobela, he would call the victim to his room and offer her his gadget for enjoyment.
“Thereafter, the accused would rape her and threaten her not to tell anyone,” Sekgobela recalls.
Vukeya said the victim was raped multiple times before she spoke up.
He claimed the suspect would occasionally show the victim his private area and order her to play with it.
“The suspect denied all the claims but acknowledged undressing before her.
“The parents of the children are drug addicts. The grandfather of the youngsters owns the workshop where they stayed.
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“Eventually, the parents caught wind of the matter and took the girl to a health facility. The results were negative.
The parents moved the children to a safe home in Dinwiddie, where they still stay.
“The boy informed the caregiver, who opened the case while they were at the safe house, what happened after the girl child verified his brother’s account.
“The accused used to threaten the children, who continued to talk about what was going on in the workshop – that social workers would take them away if they did so.
“They assumed social officials had taken them because they had spoken out against Gerhard, so they began questioning why they were at the house.
“The case was registered at the Germiston SAPS and assigned to me. In 2023, while investigating, I took Gerhard into custody at the workshop. According to my conversation with him, he said he did not rape her.
“He misrepresented the situation by claiming the younger brother had raped her before they moved into the workshop.
“My colleague, Captain Botha, interviewed the children because they refused to talk to me at the time, and I got a sense of what transpired from the assessment statement report.
“Following his detention, he quickly went before the magistrate at the Germiston Magistrate’s Court, which refused him bail.
“The counter was that he was suspected of raping a minor and that the workshop was his only place of residence,” said Vukeya.
The accused was found guilty by the Palm Ridge Magistrate’s Court on March 28 and given a 15-year prison sentence.
Major General Anna Sithole, the Ekurhuleni district commissioner, praised the investigating officer for his efforts to ensure the girl and her family receive justice.
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She also denounced the old man’s reprehensible actions because he was supposed to protect the child.
He initially appeared before the High Court in 2024, and following several appearances, was given a sentence.
Vukeya said that when he could no longer afford legal bills, he forced the court to reschedule several times while seeking legal representation.
“He was then represented by Legal Aid and declined to have a black attorney represent him. It took some time to find a white attorney, hence the multiple court postponements,” said Vukeya.
According to Vukeya, this case is a reminder to parents that neglecting their children is serious and could result in further harm and trauma for the child.
“In other instances, social workers can file a case against parents who neglect children. By entrusting their children to the Dinwiddie place of safety, these specific parents protected themselves from any shortcomings with the law. However, I believe the social workers working on the case were lenient because of that act.”
