Johannesburg - "My daughter is now afraid of men. She has no trust in people. He has done a lot of emotional damage to her.”
These were the heart-rending remarks made by the mother of one of the victims of an Ekurhuleni car salesman currently standing trial at the Johannesburg high court, who is facing more than 800 counts of rape, child sexual abuse and manufacturing child pornography - among other charges.
The mother, who cannot be identified to protect her 17-year-old daughter, spoke exclusively to The Star on Wednesday shortly after the accused sex offender entered into a guilty plea bargain and agreed to accept whatever sentence is handed to him.
“She didn’t even want to seek any counselling, but she’s seeing a counsellor now.
“She’s very fragile, that’s why she was deemed unfit to testify in this case by the forensic social worker who assessed her.
“She’s very broken, and testifying would have made it much worse for her,” the mother explained.
Judge Cassim Moosa said the court had been presented “with an extremely voluminous plea and sentencing agreement”, which he had to study and “see if it accords with the interests of justice”.
He said he would announce the sentence on Friday.
Judge Moosa added: “What has emerged from this process, I’m pleased to tell you, is that both parties have applied their minds fruitfully, narrowed the matter down and have come together with a plea and sentencing agreement
“The court does apologise for any inconvenience caused by the delay but, at the end of the day, a long, drawn-out process has been shortened by the sterling efforts of both counsels.”
The founding director of Women and Men Against Child Abuse, Miranda Friedmann, whose organisation has been supporting victims of this case, said they were hoping for a sentence of at least 18 years as this would send a strong statement that sexual abuse was not tolerated in South Africa.
Friedmann said they would “make a lot of noise” if the accused received a sentence of less than 15 years, but expressed confidence that Judge Moosa would deliver what she said would be an appropriate sentence.