Springs man gets life behind bars for raping his 6-year-old daughter

A 40-year-old man from Springs in Gauteng was sentenced to life imprisonment on Thursday by the Springs Regional Court for raping his 6-year-old daughter.

According to National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) spokesperson Lumka Mahanjana, the father penetrated the child both anally and vaginally after the mother left her at home with him on 16 June 2018.

After the incident, he gave her money and asked her not to tell anyone about what had happened.

“Three days after the incident, while the child was visiting her grandmother, she noticed that the child was being overly emotional and uncomfortable. Upon enquiring, the child told her about the rape,” Mahanjana said.

The grandmother took the child to hospital, where it was confirmed that she had been raped.

The grandmother reported the incident to the police and the father was arrested on the same day. He denied the allegations.

Prosecutor Advocate Adele Erasmus argued that crimes against children should never be tolerated in a civilised society.

Erasmus said the man is the biological father of the child, he raised her, he knew her since she was a baby and his duty was to love and protect her.

“Instead, he abused his position and breached her trust in one of the most unimaginable ways,” she told the court.

The child had extensive injuries. Erasmus said he spared her no thought by letting her testify about the ordeal she survived.

Therefore, the man needed to be removed from the society indefinitely, she said.

The NPA welcomed the sentence.

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