The Emalahleni Regional Court sentenced a 30-year-old man from Phola, in Mpumalanga, to life imprisonment for the rape of a minor who was nine years old in 2017.

CHILD'S PARTY

It is said that a family friend went to the victim's guardian and invited the victim as well as her younger brother under the pretext that they were going to attend his child's party at his residence. The accused then went to pick them up from their homestead. Upon their arrival at the party, the accused dropped off the victim's younger brother and requested the victim to accompany him to buy some drinks at the shop. Along the way, the accused took a different direction and drove with the victim and stopped the vehicle next to a shack by the bushes. He went inside with the victim and after locking the door, he raped her and then drove back to pick up the younger brother after threatening to kill the victim if she reported the incident. Thereafter it is said that the accused dropped the siblings at their home.

RAPE SWEPT UNDER CARPET

The gruesome incident was concealed until in 2019 when social workers visited the victim's school to address children about social ills that are happening around them. That was when the victim broke her silence and reported the ordeal that she was raped. Police were then alerted and a rape case was opened. The docket was assigned to the Family Violence, Child Protection and Sexual Offences Unit (FCS) and after an investigation was conducted, the accused was arrested as well as charged accordingly.In court, the accused denied the allegation levelled against him, however, the evidence presented by the prosecution team convinced the court that the victim was indeed raped. The state further succeeded in the endeavour to get a maximum sentence for the accused in order to make an impact in the scourge of Gender-Based-Violence hence he was sentenced to life imprisonment.The Provincial Commissioner of the SAPS in Mpumalanga, Lieutenant General Semakaleng Daphney Manamela welcomed the sentence. Semakaleng further hoped that the sentence will serve as a deterrence to others who might consider emulating the actions of the accused.