Stepfather pleads guilty to rape
In a case which drew the ire of locals, a 36-year-old man pleaded guilty to raping his 14-year-old stepdaughter in the Nelspruit Regional Court on Tuesday.
The man, who cannot be named to protect the identity of the victim, pleaded guilty to five counts of rape, sexual assault, sexual grooming, and manufacturing and sharing pornographic material with a minor.
According to the evidence obtained by police, the accused raped the girl between 2017 and 2019.
Investigating officer Capt Adriaan Odendaal said he had been approached by the mother after she had noticed the victim’s strange behaviour. She had self-inflicted cuts on her body. She made some enquiries and discovered that the child had been raped by the stepfather since she was 12.
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“When we fetched the victim from school and took her for a medical examination, the stepfather got wind of this and phoned the mother saying he had fetched the other daughter (6) from school and was going to shoot himself and her.”
Odendaal stated that the whole city police and security were put on full alert, and a manhunt ensued for the man and the youngest daughter.
“He was first caught in Van Riebeek Street, but managed to get away. Then we heard he was at the mother’s office so we rushed there and arrested him.”
Odendaal said they were relieved to discover that he did not have his firearm in his possession. “Thankfully, those threats turned out to be false. I took his weapon from his house that night after he was already in custody.”
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Police then found 130 graphically explicit photos of the stepfather and with the victim. The police had also discovered a video showing the man engaging in oral sex with the victim.
“This was an open-and-shut case as the evidence was so overwhelming, he could not deny anything.”
Magistrate Vanessa Joubert postponed the matter for sentencing until July 15.
