Kimberley - Eighteen years imprisonment on each of the six counts of rape that was the sentence handed down to Mfundo Gumede, who was found guilty of raping a 14-year-old girl in his shanty over a six-day period.
He was found guilty after he dragged his young victim from a tavern to his shanty in Veepos at knifepoint and held her captive from January 18 to 23 a year ago.
There he raped her on each of the days that she was kept captive.
On the sixth day he told her to go home and she was found the following day by her grandmother and the police.
Gumede’s defence attorney, JC Bergh, asked the court for a suspended sentence as the perpetrator was a first time offender and was very young at the time of the incident.
However, Magistrate Jesse Clarke said that it was difficult for him to find mitigating and compelling circumstances, considering the nature of the case, before handing down his sentence.
“I have to consider that you took a young child and threatened her with a knife before taking her to your shanty where you held her captive for six days. She had to miss out on school and you raped on each day during the period she was inside that shanty. You held her there and carried out your lusts on her.
“Her grandmother testified that when she was found she was smelly and dirty she could not even take a bath when you held her captive. You starved her during that period because she told the court that she survived by drinking water. You have robbed her of her humanity.”
Clarke said that it was an extremely traumatising ordeal for the victim to have gone through.
“This child did not know whether she was going to make it out alive. She did not know what your next actions would be and was threatened that she would be hurt if she screamed for help. This all occurred while you had the freedom to come and go as you pleased,” he said.
He added that Gumede made the victim relive the experience when she had to testify in court.
“This was a traumatic experience for the victim and she was forced to go through the details of those days again when she was cross-examined in court, but you chose not to testify in the matter.
“I can only think that your reason for not testifying was because you have no remorse for what you did. You never apologised you could have taken the stand and asked the court for forgiveness and said that you have made a mistake. You could have told the court your side of the story, but you did not.”
Clarke told Gumede that his actions had long-term repercussions for him.
“You were young when this crime was committed. When the court sentences someone, it is not just time in jail I do not think that you understand the other implications this sentence will have on you as you get older.
“Not only will you have to spend time behind bars, but you will be declared unfit to possess a firearm. Your name will also be added to the register of sexual offenders, you will have to repeatedly state that you have been found guilty for the rape of a minor when you apply for employment and you will be declared unfit to work with children. These aspects are the consequences that you will have to live with.”
Clarke said a life sentence would not be appropriate. “The aggravating circumstances in this matter are overwhelming. However, I have to take into consideration that you are a first-time offender and that you were very young at the time you committed these crimes.
“To impose a life sentence would be cruel because the aim of a sentence is not only to make the perpetrator account for his actions, but the sentence must also not break the perpetrator and allow him to be rehabilitated,” he said.
He added that although Gumede may have been acting out of immaturity, he had committed a very serious crime.
Meanwhile, the family of Mfundo Gumede said that they will appeal the sentence.
Gumede’s brother and sisters said they will not let the issue go and they are not pleased that their brother would have to spend time behind bars.
He is the youngest of six children and both his mother and father as well as one of his siblings have passed away.
Gumede’s older sister, Nomali Gumede-Kolwane, said the sentence has shocked and hurt the family tremendously. “This trial has been carrying on for a long time and Mfundo showed up for every appearance. We had to fight for him to secure bail but in the end it was granted bail. We are, however, very disappointed in how the case was investigated as there is many inaccuracies,” Gumede-Kolwane said.
She said they still believe that their brother is innocent.
“The girl in this matter is not 14-years-old. Even when they said in court that he dragged her at knifepoint is not true because the distance between the tavern and his shanty is far if it is true then why did she not make some kind of gesture for someone to help her,” she said.
She also claimed that the victim had time to escape or even scream for help.
“It is a shanty she could have kicked or slammed on the zinc of the shanty in order to attract attention from neighbours. The other shanties in the area are close by, surely someone would have heard her? She must have heard other people talking and walking past the shanty. Why did she not scream for help when she heard them,” she asked.
Gumede-Kolwane added that the family did not expect a jail sentence for their brother.
“We were all relaxed because Mfundo was advised not to testify because he already pleaded not guilty to the charge. We thought the investigation into the matter would prove his innocence.”
The family of the rapist also claimed that this was not the first time that the victim has laid a rape charge against someone.
“There are many things in her testimony that does not add up. We will not leave the matter here and will take it to highest court if our efforts at the magistrate’s court fail,” she said.
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