Durban — A man has been sentenced to a double life sentence for the rape of a mentally disabled woman.
The Durban Regional Court sentenced a man, 44, to two terms of life imprisonment for the rape, more than once, of a 40-year-old woman, in Durban in August 2017.
“The sentences will run concurrently, resulting in the effective sentence of life imprisonment. In addition, the court declared the accused unfit to possess a firearm and ordered that his name be entered into the National Register for Sex Offenders,” said KwaZulu-Natal National Prosecuting Authority spokesperson Natasha Ramkisson-Kara.
The accused lived on the same property as the complainant who was mentally disabled, and their families were well known to each other.
On the day of the incident, the victim was alone at home when the accused gained access to her family’s premises and raped her, covering her mouth so that she would not scream. Her brother walked in on them, and the accused ran away.
The complainant was taken to the Phoenix Thuthuzela Care Centre (TCC), where she received the necessary support.
Ramkisson-Kara said that in court, the accused pleaded not guilty claiming that he did not know that the complainant was mentally disabled and that she had agreed to have sex with him.
In the state’s case Advocate Cheryl Reddy led the testimonies of the complainant, her mother, her brother (the eyewitness), a psychologist and the doctor from the TCC.
The psychologist who assessed the complainant concluded that she was childlike and that she could not understand the consequences of sex and therefore she could not consent to sexual intercourse.
In addition to being an eyewitness to the offence, the complainant’s brother told the court that the accused was well known to them. The state arranged for the complainant to testify with the assistance of a specialist intermediary, who worked with mentally disabled people. The complainant confirmed the state’s case, adding that the accused had raped her on a previous occasion.
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