Kroonstad - A 38-year-old man, who raped his nine-year-old stepdaughter at their home in Gelukwaarts, was handed two life sentences by the Kroonstad Regional Court, police said on Thursday.
SAPS spokesperson Captain Stephen Thakeng said: “On the 15 December 2013 a nine-year-old girl was at her house when her stepfather forced her on the bed and raped her.”
The child told the police that the rapes began in 2010, when she was only nine years old.
Thakeng said the stepfather was initially arrested for the rape, but he was released on bail.
On October 13, 2014, while the man was on bail, he again raped the girl when she returned from school.
“The suspect was out on bail for the rape case and he raped the victim again,” Thakeng said.
Later the distraught girl went to he mother’s house. Asked what was the matter, the girl told her mother she had again been raped by her stepfather.
The incident was reported to Maokeng Police Station. The case was investigated by Detective Warrant Officer Lizette Mouton of Kroonstad Family, Child and Sexual Offences Unit, which led to the conviction of the stepfather.
The convicted rapist cannot be named to protect the identity of the child.
Thakeng said the two life sentences meted out to the rapist would run concurrently.
African News Agency