A Mamelodi East man was sentenced to life imprisonment at the Pretoria regional court on Thursday, for raping his 10-year-old stepdaughter.
The rape took place in 2013.
According to National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) spokesperson Phindi Louw-Mjonondwane, state prosecutor Thulisile Shabalala argued that the man abused the fact that the girl trusted him and asked the court to consider the prevalence of such cases where child victims are mostly hurt by those they trusted.
The court then decided that the only suitable sentence to impose was life imprisonment, as prescribed by the minimum sentences act for rape of a minor, she said.
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“The mother of the victim was working as a domestic worker, sleeping over at her place of employment,” Mjonondwane said.
“She only came home at weekends.”
She said the man was unemployed and owned a tuck shop at the place of residence in Mamelodi where he was staying with the girl and her two siblings.
“The victim testified that one evening in October 2013, her stepfather sent her to buy beer and upon return, he instructed her to bring the beer to his bedroom,” she said.
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“He locked her in, raped her and threatened her with a firearm not to tell anyone.”
She said the girl feared the man and company of friends whom he was often with, which included ex-prisoners and people who were in regular trouble with the law.
“The child could not tell her mother,” she said.
Mjonondwane said the mother became unemployed in 2018.
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She then lived with them on a full-time basis.
“The mother testified that she noticed that her child behaved strangely towards the accused, often with anger outbursts that would result in the accused hitting the child,” she said.
“She managed to ask the child if there was a problem and the child told her she hated her stepfather because he had raped her.”
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