*This article has been edited
Durban - A 13-year-old boy felt he would be better off dead than live with the hurt and embarrassment of having friends laugh at him for being raped.
This was according to a victim impact statement read out to the Verulam Regional Court on Thursday, during the sentencing of serial rapist, Mzwakhe Sithole.
Sithole, 26, raped the boy in June 2012 while he was on his way to school in the Hazelmere area.
Sithole demanded money from the boy, and when he said he did not have any, he dragged him into the nearby bushes.
Magistrate Jenny Pillay on Thursday sentenced Sithole to life imprisonment for the rape, saying it was "hugely traumatic" for a child of that age to be laughed at by friends and forced to change schools.
"One can only imagine the pain and suffering he had to endure," she said.
Sithole had pleaded guilty last month to raping the boy and two young women in three separate incidents a few months apart in 2012. He also robbed the women.
Sithole was also sentenced to life and 15 years' imprisonment respectively for raping the two women; 15 years for each of the two robberies; and five years for housebreaking with intent to steal.
The sentences are to run concurrently with the life sentence.
Sithole is already serving a four-year sentence at the Qalakabusha Prison in Empangeni for sexual assault.
In March 2012, Sithole was walking with a friend through Mount Moreland when they saw a man and a woman walking together.
He said his friend suggested they rob them and Sithole agreed. His friend drew a gun and he took out a knife.
The man ran away and after robbing the young woman, Sithole and his friends took turns raping her.
A few months later, he raped the boy.
The third incident was in September 2012, when he noticed a window ajar at a home in the Cottonlands area.
He forced it open and entered the house to find a 19-year-old woman asleep in the dining room.
She awoke when he started touching her.
He held her at knifepoint and walked her to her bedroom where he assaulted her.
Sithole's attorney, Vasantha Naidoo, asked the court to show compassion for her client and to deviate from the minimum prescribed sentenced.
She said Sithole had a minor child who lived with Sithole's mother.
Sithole had been a vegetable hawker before his arrest and had completed Grade 7 at school.
"I ask the court to show compassion and to be fair to society. The punishment should fit the crime and the criminal," she said.
But prosecutor, Kaystree Ramsamujh, argued that society must be protected from people like Sithole who had been linked by his DNA to the rapes after his arrest and conviction in 2014 for sexual assault.
She also asked the court to take into account each of the victim impact statements which she had read out.
All three survivors spoke of sleepless nights and constant memories of the attacks.
"I don't know what I will tell my children when they grow up. I don't know if I will tell them about this at all. I felt disrespected. I hate all males now and will never trust them again," said the 31-year-old woman.
The boy spoke of being afraid to go out during school lunch breaks because some of the boys had learnt about the rape and told other children and they would laugh at him.
His mother looked for another school for him to attend, but he could not concentrate at school and would take a different route home to avoid seeing anyone.
"I hate what I experienced in life. Perhaps it would have been better if I died because I'm left with a wound that will never ever heal," he said.
The 19-year-old woman stopped going to school because she felt it was useless as she battled to concentrate and would cry all the time. She also thought of committing suicide and felt embarrassed to face the world.
Referring to Sithole's previous convictions, the magistrate said it showed he did not take responsibility for his actions and had "stooped to the lowest level of crime".
"You weren't deterred and lacked a moral compass. I agree with the State that you pleaded guilty because of the overwhelming evidence against you," she said.
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Daily News