Life imprisonment for Hlabisa rapist

Mtubatuba Regional Court sentenced a man (26) to life imprisonment after being found guilty of raping his minor cousin between 2019 and 2020.

The incidents took place in the Hlabisa area when the victim was 7 years old.

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The court heard that the victim lived with her aunts and cousins because her parents worked in another area.

During this period, the victim was raped twice, and on both occasions, the man, who cannot be named to protect the identity of the victim, threatened to kill her if she told anyone.

Then in 2023, the victim went to live with her parents in Ngwelezane.

On one evening, her mother asked her and her siblings if they wanted to participate in the upcoming reed dance, where they would sing and dance, and participate in virginity testing.

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The victim then confided in her mother that she could not participate as she had been raped by her cousin and was therefore no longer a virgin.

The victim was taken to the Ngwelezana Thuthuzela Care Centre, and upon examination, the doctor’s findings were in keeping with what the child had claimed.

The matter was reported to the police. The accused became aware that the police were looking for him, and he fled the Hlabisa area.

He was eventually arrested last year in Vryheid. On behalf of the State, Prosecutor Phumlani Thembalethu Khoza led the testimonies of the victim, the first report (her mother), and the doctor who examined her.

In her statement, the mother said she had trusted the accused and considered him to be one of her children.

She said his actions are horrific and inexplicable, and that they will never fully heal from the trauma of what happened. She said the accused should be removed from her family and from society.

The court declared the convicted rapist unfit to possess a firearm and ordered that his name be entered into the National Child Protection Register for Sex Offenders.

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