Rapist’s trial of six years draws to an end in Secunda Regional Court

SECUNDA – The Secunda Regional Court on Friday, 19 July, found a man (45) guilty on 23 charges, varying from assault to indecent assault and rape.

The six-year-long trial covered 32 charges stemming from incidents as far back as 2002.

The incidents also happened in various towns such as Standerton, Kriel, Rustenburg, Middelburg, Potgietersrus, Carletonville and Fochville, but the case was centralised because the first charge was eventually brought at the Secunda Police.

The man’s wife, her two younger sisters and his daughter and son were the complainants in the case.

Magistrate Graham Cupido painstakingly worked through each of the 32 charges on Friday, explaining why he found the man guilty on 23 of the charges.

The remaining nine charges mostly related to the man’s daughter who claimed that he had sexually molested her.

Mr Cupido said the daughter’s testimony was unreliable, contradictory and he doubted the truthfulness thereof.

The man was however, found guilty of a sexual act on his daughter based on the testimony of her mother who told the court that her husband pushed his genitals into the two-year-old’s mouth to teach her a lesson for walking into the room while her parents were having sex.

The court deemed this act as rape.

The man was found guilty on numerous counts of assault and assault with the intent to do grievous bodily harm to his wife.

He often beat, kicked and throttled her. Once he shoved her head into a trash can.

He also raped her next to a car that was occupied by a friend. This happened at Grootdraai Dam near Standerton while the couple were still dating in 2003.

In another incident, she was five months pregnant when he held a knife to her stomach and threatened to cut out her unborn child if she did not force her friend to have sex with the accused.

The court heard testimony from a forensic nurse that the wife had anal scaring. This was consistent with the wife’s version that her husband used to rape her in this manner to punish her for being cheeky.

One of these incidents took place in front of their young son while their infant daughter was crying in the car.

The man then beat both kids for crying.

The wife was only 15 years old when she met the accused who was 28 years old at the time. Despite the violence in the relationship, the woman repeatedly took back her abuser and later married him. They have two sons and two daughters.

Lt-Col Hayden Nibbs, a forensic psychologist, testified that the woman suffered from beaten wife-syndrome, something that often occurs in an intimate violent partner relationship.

During the time they were together, the man also raped his wife’s 14-year old sister, as well as sexually assaulted their youngest sibling on two occasions by touching her with his naked genitals.

The last of the incidents happened to the youngest sister when she visited the couple in Kriel. She reported it to her father in Secunda, which led to the man being arrested.

The man was also accused of severely beating and strangling his son.

Upon completing his judgement, Mr Cupido ordered the man to be taken into custody. The case was postponed to 2 August for sentencing.