Kimberley - A 19-year-old man who was found guilty of raping a 10-year-old family member, has skipped jail time and was on Tuesday sentenced in the Kimberley Magistrate’s Court to correctional supervision for a period of three years in terms of the Criminal Procedure Act.
Magistrate Jesse Clarke on Tuesday also handed Abel Abrahams a further five-year sentence, suspended on condition that he (Abrahams) is not found guilty of a sexual offence.
Clarke, however, warned Abrahams that the sentence should not be taken lightly and that he has to undergo the rehabilitation programmes stipulated.
“Many interpret correctional supervision as a light sentence or that an accused can just walk away free … this is not true. Correctional supervision is harsher that direct imprisonment because you are curbed from doing everyday things. Your sentence would entail that you do undergo certain programmes and you will have to do community service during that period,” said Clarke.
Abraham was convicted of raping a 10-year-old family member with whom he was sharing a house.
The 10-year-old girl was sleeping when she felt someone on top of her. She shone her cellphone in the person’s face and saw that it was Abrahams. She told her mother about the incident and they reported the matter to the police.
The State, represented by advocate Sue-Ann Weyers-Gericke, during closing arguments asked the court to impose direct imprisonment although Abrahams committed the offence when he was still a minor.
“The accused was not keeping himself occupied with the things a child should have … he committed a serious offence and should be punished as a an adult. The victim was raped in her bed, inside her house. This was the place where she is supposed to feel safe and have comfort and now the accused has changed the image of the place where she is supposed to find refuge,” said Weyers-Gericke.
Abraham’s legal representative, JC Bergh, however argued that the fact that his client was so young at the time he committed the offence, it may be an indication of his immaturity.
“This offence was committed when the accused was just 17 years old. He was just a mere child when he did this. One cannot speculate on the reasons he did it, but it is clear that he acted out of immaturity and did not know any better at the time,” said Bergh.
Clarke said the minimum sentence was not applicable due to the fact that Abrahams was a minor at the time.
He said that this was a serious offence and that the sentence should not be viewed as a slap on the wrist.
Clarke said what made the incident even more serious is that Abrahams had now broken the trust in the family.
“This was your mother’s sister’s child whom you conducted this awful act on. The mother of the victim had taken you and your mother into her house and gave you a roof over your head. These people trusted you and this is how you repay them. The victim probably viewed you as a brother and never dreamt that you could do such a thing to her. She will have to live with the stigma that she was raped for her entire life,” he said.
Clarke added that he, however, had to balance the aggravating circumstances against the mitigating circumstances.
“When I looked at the manner in which you were raised, I had to view them as mitigating circumstances in this matter. According to the social worker’s report, you grew up in a one-roomed house with your parents. Adults in such households do not have much privacy and neither do the children. As a child you may have been exposed to some adult behaviour which you later interpreted for yourself,” Clarke said.
“It is also stated in the report that from age 16 years you grew up without a father. The absence of your father had an impact on you because there was no one to teach and guide you on how a young man should conduct himself and you may have questions about sexuality which were left unanswered. You are also a first-time offender which in this matter is also a mitigating factor,” Clarke said.
Clarke said that the programmes Abrahams would have to undergo are to rehabilitate him so he can grow up to be a balanced man.
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