A man who sexually assaulted his daughter and started raping her after his wife died has been sentenced to life behind bars for the crimes. The 48-year-old man from Empangeni in KwaZulu Natal was sentenced by the Durban Regional Court on Friday.

KZN National Prosecuting Authority spokesperson Natasha Ramakisson-Kara said that the girl was living with her father and stepmother when the sexual assault started. She was 13 years old at the time. "The father sexually assaulted her on several occasions by inappropriately touching her body, kissing her and by forcing her to touch him sexually. When her stepmother died in 2015, he began raping the girl and continued to do so on several occasions up until 2020," Kara said. According to Kara, the father threatened to kill her or burn down the house if she reported him to the police. "He would sometimes keep a firearm nearby when he raped her, to make her fearful. She eventually reported the rapes to her school teacher who contacted a social worker, and the girl was taken to the Umlazi Thuthuzela Care Centre (TCC) for medical and psycho-social assistance. Her father left the area and was traced by the police and arrested six months later," she said.

State Prosecutor Tanuja Bechan led the testimony of the girl and her teacher, who was the first to report the case. "The girl's brother also testified that the girl would often spend the night in their father's room with the door locked," Kara added. The man was sentenced to 15 years imprisonment for sexual assault and life imprisonment for rape. In addition to the sentence, the court deemed him unfit to possess a firearm, and unfit to work with children. Kara also said the court ordered that his name is entered into the National Register for Sex Offenders.