Johannesburg - The Pretoria High Court has sentenced a 42-year-old father from Meyerton, Vereeniging, to four life terms and 73 years of direct imprisonment for sexual crimes committed towards five minor children aged 9, 10, 11, 12 and 13 years old from 2019 to November 2020.
Two of the minors are his biological children, and the court also ordered that his name be added to the National Register for Sexual Offenders.
According to Lumka Mahanjana national NPA regional spokesperson, this is after Judge Masopa convicted him of two counts of statutory rape, two counts of rape, two counts of sexual grooming and two counts of instructing a child to commit sexual offences, incest and possession of pornography, as well as sexual assault.
Mahanjana said at the time of the incidents, the man was in a relationship with the mothers of the two minor children, aged 10 and 11, when he sexually violated them.
“However, when his 11 and 12-year-old daughters visited him, he would rape them, and over and above raping the 12-year-old, he would take pictures of her private parts and ask her to send him similar pictures via WhatsApp when she was not with him.
“The 13-year-old minor, whom he also sexually violated, was said to be his girlfriend at the time of the incidents and later fell pregnant and had his child when she was 16 years old.
“He was stopped when she caught him raping his 12-year-old daughter, and she then reported the matter to the police, and he was arrested on November 17, 2020, and has been in custody since.”
Mahanjana added that in mitigation of his sentence, the father read a statement and asked the court to impose a sentence of 25 years because he was now a changed man and had found God in prison.
“However, in aggravation, the State prosecutor, advocate Salome Scheepers, told the court that crimes of gender-based violence were prevalent in the country. The man was a father and a stepfather to his victims, and he was in a position of trust but betrayed that trust.
“He furthermore displayed no remorse, no regret and therefore no hope of rehabilitation. Therefore, she asked the court to impose a sentence of life imprisonment. Judge Masopa agreed with the State that the man showed no remorse and therefore found no compelling and substantial circumstances to deviate from the prescribed minimum sentence. The sentence given was appropriate.
“The Director of Public Prosecutions, advocate Sibongile Mzinyathi, applauds the work of the prosecutor and the investigating officer, Captain Edgar Swart, that led to the conviction and sentencing in this gruesome case involving children. He hopes that the sentence will send a strong message that such crimes will not be tolerated but will be prosecuted,” said Mahanjana.
The Star