SECUNDA – The Regional Court in Secunda that deals with sexual offenses, sentenced a child rapist to 20 years’ imprisonment on Wednesday, 20 May.
Thabiso Isaac Mathe (35) was first arrested in Kinross for the rape of a friend’s 12-year-old daughter on 3 September 2016 and released on bail. He was again arrested after another girl claimed he raped her in December of the same year.
Magistrate Graham Cupido found Mathe guilty on Monday 18 May of the 12-year-old’s rape, but acquitted Mathe on the second rape for lack of enough evidence.
Before meting out the sentence, Mr Cupido said that rape is the vilest act of domination, calling it the proverbial cancer in society.
He found the aggression with which Mathe raped the girl to be disturbing. A medical report indicated she sustained a cleft in her genitals which might never fully heal.
“The victim was clearly stripped of her innocence by her father’s friend. You abused the trust she and her parents had in you.”
The girl was with friends when Mathe took her aside, raped her and then took her home and still visited with the family. One of her friends later alerted the victim’s parents of what had happened.
Mr Cupido said Mathe showed no remorse for what he had done nor did he have any respect for the child or her family, because he still returned to visit the family after the rape.
“I do not think you showed neither remorse nor respect for the child or her family. You were told not to go to their home after you were arrested. Yet you still had the audacity to call on the child and asked her to call her father.”
Mr Cupido said Mathe further subjected the girl to secondary trauma by forcing her to testify about her ordeal.
According to Mr Cupido, the rape had a very negative impact on the victim and that she was psychologically and emotionally scarred. “This will be forever in her memory.”
Mathe’s name will now also be entered into the national database for sex offenders, as well as the database for child molesters.
