Cape Town - Sexual abuse on farms has been spotlighted after the swift sentencing in rape cases involving children in the Cape Winelands.
The Paarl Sexual Offences Court recently handed down hefty sentences to two child rapists.
David Solomons, 34, was sentenced to two life imprisonments for two counts of rape and four years for sexual assault.
The court found Solomons had raped his girlfriend’s 12-year-old daughter between 2018 and 2019 on Mooi Kelder Farm in Paarl. The case was registered in July 2019 and Solomons was sentenced on November 26 this year.
In Wellington, Jerome Adams, 31, was sentenced to 10 and 20 years for two counts of rape involving his girlfriend’s 15-year-old sister.
The rape was committed in 2014 on Malaniel Farm in Wellington, with the case registered in June 2014. Adams was sentenced on December 2 this year.
Western Cape Provincial Commissioner Thembisile Patekile welcomed the sentences and congratulated the investigation and prosecution teams for ensuring perpetrators are incarcerated.
“We hope the sentences will serve as a deterrent to would-be perpetrators of crimes against women and children,” Patekile said.
Womens Health and Empowerment co-ordinator – Women on Farms Project (WFP), Micealah Ford, said most cases the WFP assisted with were those of abuse, with 50% of those being sexual abuse within these areas.
“It seems to be a case of grooming that happens from older men in the community and it is happening over periods of time, and people not reporting due to it being people they know in the community. We have also seen that it happens to many women/girls walking late at night between farms as there are no lights and distances are quite far.
“As WFP, we are working with Soetendal Primary in Wellington on gender-based violence to do awareness and prevention workshops, but also prepare them for what to do if they do experience any forms of violence, especially sexual abuse,” Ford said.