4 life terms for rapist father

The eShowe Regional Court this week sentenced a 41-year-old man to four terms of life imprisonment for the rape of his four young children in the Hluhluwe area.

The offences took place between 2015 and 2019 when the children were aged between two and eight years old.

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The accused lived with the children and their mother, and raped them when their mother was not at home.

National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) KZN regional spokesperson Natasha Ramkisson-Kara said the children testified that they would be playing outside, and the accused would call them into the house and rape them.

“He threatened them so they would not report him. The matter was eventually reported by the children’s mother after she observed injuries to their genitals. The accused was arrested at their home in Hluhluwe,” she said.

Ramkisson-Kara said the accused pleaded not guilty and denied the allegations against him.

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In the State’s case, the prosecutor, Kacey Pillay, led the testimonies of the children, where three of them mentioned that they were raped on various occasions.

Since the children’s mother died before the start of the trial, Pillay made an application to the court in terms of Section 3(1)(c) of the Hearsay Evidence Act to have the mother’s statements admitted onto the record.

“An eyewitness’ testimony corroborated the mother’s statement. The J88 medical records, confirming the sexual abuse of all the children, were also handed in to the court.

“In aggravation of sentence, the State handed in victim impact statements compiled by the children and facilitated by court preparation officer Amanda Pretty Nxumalo. One child said she used to be happy and play a lot, but now she is sad. She said she is untrusting of male persons.

“Another child said the accused’s actions have negatively affected him, and he is angry all the time. One of the children said he hates the accused for what he did to them,” she said.

The accused was sentenced to life imprisonment for each count of rape. In addition, the court ordered that his name be entered into the National Register for Sex Offenders, and he was declared unfit to possess a firearm.

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