The Durban Regional Court has sentenced a 29-year-old man to life imprisonment after he was found guilty of the rape of an eight-year-old girl in Cato Manor.

According to the NPA’s regional spokesperson, Natasha Ramkisson-Kara, the child, who was friends with the man’s stepdaughter (also eight-years-old), was raped on different occasions.

“He threatened to kill her or rape her friend (his stepdaughter) if she told anyone. The child’s mother eventually noticed that something was wrong with the child and asked her about it. The child was initially reluctant to disclose her abuser, as she was still afraid of the man, however, his identity was eventually revealed, and he was arrested soon after,” she said.

In aggravating the sentence, regional court prosecutor Sibongile Mkhwanazi handed in victim impact statements compiled by the child and her mother and facilitated by court preparation officer Prudence Geraud. In her statement, the child said that she is now scared of playing outside her home.

She is always angry and is no longer happy. Her mother stated that the offence has negatively affected her marriage because she and her husband feel like they have failed their child.

The man was sentenced to an effective term of life imprisonment. The court ordered that his name be entered into the National Register for Sex Offenders, and he was deemed unfit to possess a firearm.

Further, the court ordered that he not be given parole without prior consultation with the child’s parents. Upon completion of his sentence, he must be deported to his home country, Zimbabwe.

The NPA welcomed the successful prosecution as it affirms its stance on the abuse of children. “We commend the efforts of the prosecution and the police,” she concluded.