Pretoria - An eleven-year-old girl clung to her little brother at night to try to escape her stepfather who raped her six nights in a row – all because he wanted to get back at her mother who he believed was being unfaithful.
The stepfather is HIV-positive.
This is the sad tale that unfolded in the Pretoria High Court when the rapist appealed against his six rape convictions and life prison term.
But three judges stood firm, saying all fingers pointed clearly to the stepfather being the rapist and that there was no reason to reduce his sentence.
“In regard to an appropriate sentence, the appellant’s attitude reflected an approach to women, and to his stepdaughter in particular, that they are mere chattels to be used at his will.
“This was a brutal and repeated attack on an 11-year-old who was under his care and protection. He raped her more than once,” Judge Margaret Victor said.
The court heard that the stepfather raped the child every night for six days in a row. He was sentenced to six life terms by the lower court, which refused him leave to appeal. He subsequently petitioned and was given leave to appeal.
The child’s mother testified that her three children slept in a separate room. She left them in her husband’s care for a few days to attend a funeral. While she was away her husband phoned her and he heard people laughing in the background. He suspected her of two-timing him.
When she returned, she noticed the child was “ill” and could not walk properly. She had intense “stomach” pain and lost consciousness at one stage. She remained in bed most of the time. This condition lasted for days.
On the fifth day the child told her mother what had happened. Her seven-year-old sister, who witnessed the rapes, confirmed her story.
The mother said her children told her that on the night of her departure her husband took their blankets from their room and instructed them to sleep in his room. The morning after the child was raped for the first time, she met a woman she knew in the street and told her what happened.
The crying child asked the woman to point her in the direction of the police station, but she refused as she was afraid of the child’s stepfather.
The mother, before turning to the police, wanted to ascertain from her husband what had happened.
When she confronted him, he said the child lied.
The child’s medical examination took place five days after the last rape. There was no more DNA evidence, but the doctor noted vaginal injuries.
The child testified that when her stepdad called her to his bed the first night, she refused. He then came to where she was sleeping with her siblings, pulled down her underwear and raped her. She said on the second night she tried to hold on to her little brother who was sleeping next to her. The boy woke up and started to cry. The man gave the boy R2, which pacified him and he went back to sleep.
The girl said her stepdad threatened her by holding a knife to her head. She believed he would kill her if she told anyone what happened.
Once he wanted to have sex with her during the day, but she took her siblings and ran to the shop.
She was too scared to tell her mother, as she feared he would kill them all. “Her mental anguish and physical pain were obvious,” Judge Victor remarked.
The stepfather told the court he was falsely implicated, as “they wanted to get rid of him”. He admitted that he had assaulted his wife several times and that she had previously obtained an interdict against him.
The judge remarked that the child’s fear of her stepfather was not misplaced. Even the woman she encountered in the street was afraid of him. The father, the judge said, showed no remorse. He felt his wife deserved it as she “two-timed” him.
Pretoria News