Girl’s testimony puts rapist stepdad in jail

LYDENBURG – A 51-year-old man was sentenced to life imprisonment after he was found guilty of rape, sexual assault and the exposure of a child to pornographic material, last Friday.

The man sexually abused his stepdaughter from 2008 until 2010. The child was seven years old when the abuse started.

Regional Court magistrate, Mr Andries Lamprecht, delivered the verdict and sentence in the same court session.

In his judgement, Lamprecht said that the state presented the evidence of three witnesses, namely the complainant, her mother and Ms Rethea Myburgh, a clinical psychologist, all of whom were properly and extensively cross-examined.

“The evidence of the victim, who was 13 years old at the time of her testimony on January 22, 2016, was presented to court via closed-circuit television from a room other than the courtroom, and through the services of an intermediary who was properly appointed in terms of the provisions of section 170A of the Child Protection Act (CPA). The complainant’s evidence is that the accused was her stepfather until he and her biological mother got divorced,” said Lamprecht.

He added that the child’s evidence told how the accused, at times that the rape survivor’s mother was at work and he picked her up from school, would make her watch pornographic movies with him.

“She described these movies to have contained videographic material of men and women who were naked and tried to make children…” Lamprecht then described in detail the girl’s horrific experiences, which included the stepfather making her recreate the acts seen in the pornographic films.

The magistrate said that the child testified that the sexual assault occurred two to three times per week.

“Sometimes he even had her take a shower with him and do the same things with him.

The last occasion, so she said, was at the time that they had relocated to a new home in another town.

On that occasion he insisted that she drive with him in the vehicle that he drove, while her younger brother, whom her mother had with the accused, were to travel in the vehicle driven by her mother…

“During the drive he made her remove her seat belt and perform sexual acts.

“On one of the earlier occasions he tried to convince her to allow him to have vaginal sex with her. She refused after which he sexually abused her in another way.

The child testified that she did not report what had happened to her mother or anyone else because she was scared.

The accused told her that neither her mother nor anyone else would ever believe her if she told what had happened, and that they would only think she was stupid.

“The further evidence of the complainant’s mother and Myburgh, the clinical psychologist, revealed that the complainant had told them she was also scared to tell because the accused had once threatened to shoot her and her mother.”

During the sentencing Lamprecht said, “Although dealing here with the evidence of a young child that has been given through an intermediary and, in Afrikaans at that, she came across to be a good and impressive witness in every respect.

|”Her evidence was never shaken by the adroitness of the lawyers asking the questions – she never contradicted herself or any other witness in any material respect and she never faltered during cross-examination.

“The accused, on the other hand was not an impressive witness.

“I say this well remembering that he bears no onus to convince the court of the truth of his explanation.”

Lamprecht said he did not not think that there existed a reasonable possibility of accused’s version being true, and that the state’s version has therefore been proved correct beyond reasonable doubt.

“The accused’s version is rejected as false and he is on the state’s version convicted and found guilty as charged on all counts,” concluded Lamprecht.

Const Gabisille Seopa of Lydenburg SAPS was the investigating officer on the case.