Durban man in dock for 2-yr-old’s rape

Published Dec 3, 2014

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Durban - A Durban court heard graphic details on Tuesday of how a construction worker allegedly pounced on two young children playing outside their house, carried his friend’s 2-year-old daughter to her father’s bedroom, and raped her.

The 29-year-old accused was denied bail after the Ntuzuma Magistrate’s Court found he was a flight risk because he faced a possible life sentence.

The accused cannot be named because he has not yet pleaded.

Acting magistrate, Zenzele Mchunu, also noted the accused’s previous conviction for culpable homicide.

In court, the child’s parents and grandmother sat in the front row of the public gallery.

Their neighbours – the accused’s mother and girlfriend – sat in the back row.

When the accused was called out, the child’s 27-year-old mother leaned on her boyfriend’s shoulder with tears streaming down her face.

Not able to control her emotions, she burst out crying and was escorted out by her boyfriend’s mother, who was also in tears.

The child’s 32-year-old father sat alone as prosecutor, Anusha Govender, told the court the 2-year-old was carried into her own father’s room, outside the main house, and raped.

Another child heard the girl crying and raised the alarm.

In an affidavit, the accused disclosed that he had been sentenced to seven years imprisonment for a 2008 culpable homicide conviction.

It is not clear when he was released and under what circumstances.

He also said he intended to plead not guilty and could only afford to pay R1 000 bail.

Mchunu concluded that since the accused, himself a father to a 1-year-old, faced a possible life sentence, he might not return to face the charges and was therefore considered a flight risk. The accused was denied bail.

Daily News

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