Just News |
The Atteridgeville Magistrate’s Court, sentenced a 29-year-old man from Atteridgeville in Pretoria, to twenty-two years of direct imprisonment, for two counts of rape of a 12-year-old minor. The court ordered that his name be added in the National Register for Sexual Offenders and declared him unfit to possess a firearm.
This is after he was convicted, by Magistrate Allen Cowan, on 25 May 2022. At the time of the incident, the child was staying with her grandmother, in Saulsville in the main house while Mr X who at the time was in a relationship with the victim’s aunt, stayed in the back rooms within the same yard.
National Prosecuting Authority Regional Spokesperson Lumka Mahanjana said in June 2019, in the evening when the child was closing the gate at the request of the grandmother. “Mr X, saw her and dragged her to the outside toilet and raped her. In the morning, the child reported the matter to the grandmother, who told her to go to the clinic and school. When the minor got to school, she told her friend what had happened”
Mahanjana said two weeks later, when the victim was washing dishes in the kitchen, Mr X came in and sexually assaulted the child again.
“Mr. X was arrested on 08 January 2020, and has been in custody since, after the NPA successfully opposed bail. In court, Mr X pleaded not guilty, to the charges preferred against him”.
Prosecutor Paulina Mochaka asked the court to recall what the victim went through when imposing a sentence. “Mr X was an uncle to the child but failed to protect her, instead, he saw her as a suitable candidate to satisfy himself sexually. Mahanjana added that the 62-year-old, grandmother, of the child, was summoned to appear on 19 March 2021, facing a charge of failure to report the rape of a minor. The matter will appear on 20 July 2022, at Atteridgeville District Court for representation. The NPA welcomes the sentence.
