Kimberley -
The five-year-old girl who was raped and murdered in November last year sustained severe anal injuries.
This was according to testimony heard in the Northern Cape High Court on Tuesday from the forensic pathologist, Dr Lemaine Fouche, regarding the injuries sustained by five-year-old Florence Barendt when she was raped and murdered on November 29 last year.
Ivan Mothibe, 30, was arrested and charged after Barendt’s body was discovered near the Galeshewe Police Station the day after the incident.
Mothibe pleaded guilty to three of the four charges against him, including rape, kidnapping and murder.
He pleaded not guilty to the charge of vaginal rape.
Mothibe said in a statement read out earlier in court that his penis had slipped out of the deceased’s anus and penetrated her vagina when he raped her anally.
Fouche, who conducted the autopsy on Barendt, testified that the five-year-old had suffered severe anal injuries, a fractured skull and injuries to her vaginal area.
“There was a deep pressure into the anus stretching into the rectum. There were also tears into the rectum which continued further inwards as a streak of red into the area. There was no sphincter function present, meaning the opening was wide. These signs are persistent with anal penetration,” said Fouche.
Fouche added that the injuries to the vagina were not as extensive as those to the anus.
“The organs looked red and swollen. There were small tears of two millimetres in the hymen. There was also a small haemorrhage of two millimetres in diameter on the inside of the left labia,” she said.
She said the autopsy also revealed a fracture in the middle of the girl’s skull.
The State, represented by advocate Joyleen Mabaso, asked Fouche whether she could determine whether the child was first penetrated anally or vaginally and whether the accused may have attempted to rape her vaginally.
Fouche said that she was not in a position to answer the question.
“There could be a possibility that the penis slipped out of the anus because the child may have not been lying still,” said Fouche.
Mabaso attempted to separate the two counts of rape but due to insufficient evidence it could not be determined that the accused had planned to rape the child anally as well as vaginally.
Mothibe’s lawyer, Pierre Fourie, asked Fouche whether the statement by his client that his penis had slipped out of the girl’s anus and into the vagina, could be correct.
“There is a possibility,” said Fouche.
In response to a question by Judge Bulelwe Pakati, Fouche said it was also possible that Mothibe had attempted to penetrate the deceased vaginally.
“There weren’t extensive vaginal injuries . . . had there been vaginal penetration, there would be far more serious injuries to the hymen,” said Fouche.
Mabaso pointed out that the accused had admitted that he had penetrated the deceased vaginally in his statement.
“Besides the evidence presented by the injuries, the State does not have evidence whether this happened. To determine this, there are tests that should be conducted to determine whether the accused did attempt to penetrate the deceased vaginally and anally. It is a difficult matter as the only witness who can testify to that was the deceased. The State would request the court to convict the accused on what he stated . . . that it was one act of rape. The court must also find the accused guilty on the direct intention to kill the deceased and also take into consideration the weapon used to kill her,” said Mabaso.
Fourie asked the court to convict the accused on the three of the four charges.
“There was only one intention and that was to rape. If there is only one intention then it is one act.
The case has been postponed to Friday.
* In Tuesday’s edition, Judge Pakati was incorrectly referred to as Judge Phatsoane. The DFA apologises for the error.
Diamond Fields Advertiser