A 36-year-old Eastern Cape man was sentenced to 20 years in prison for raping a five-year-old girl after she got up during the night to go to the toilet.
Grahamstown High Court judge Elna Revelas on Friday sentenced the man, who cannot be named as he is related to the girl's father.
Last November, Revelas found the accused man guilty of raping the child at his shack in Hlalani township, between 14 and 15 December last year.
The trial court heard evidence that the accused had invited the mother of the girl, along with her younger sister, to sleep over at his shack after a night of heavy drinking.
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Revelas said in her 15-minute judgment that it was common cause that all the adults in the shack that night were drunk.
"They were the accused, his wife and the girl's mother. According to the girl's version, which I accept, he raped her when she got up to go and urinate in the chamber pot.
"The saddest aspect of this case for me is the mother was so drunk, she did not hear her little girl's screams as she was being raped.
"One does not know what motivates a grown man to rape a little girl simply because he heard she was urinating."
The girl had previously testified that she had screamed for her mother to help her when she was raped, "but nobody came. Nobody helped me", she said.
She also told the court that she had tried to wake her mother up, but was unable to do so.
Revelas said the offence was spontaneous and impulsive, and there was no evidence of premeditation, and alcohol also played a very substantial part in the offence.
"Both girls had been removed by social workers from the care of the mother, who was not a nurturing person. The little girl has been placed in the care of a loving aunt, and is now living there permanently."
She said the evidence of clinical psychologist Pumza Sakasa, had indicated that the girl had not suffered severe psychological damage, and would be able to receive regular counselling sessions at a local clinic, near her new home.
"However, the rape of a little girl is a heinous and serious matter and the accused cannot escape a long custodial sentence. In my view, a sentence of 20 years in prison will meet the demands of society," she said.
The tall, thin and balding man, who sat hunched in the dock during the brief proceedings, showed no reaction on hearing his sentence. - Sapa
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