Johannesburg - A 15-year-old boy was sentenced to to ten years imprisonment by the Pietermaritzburg Magistrate’s Court for raping a three-year-old girl, KwaZulu-Natal police said on Wednesday.
Police spokesman Major Thulani Zwane said the boy was convicted and sentenced on Tuesday.
“On Saturday May 23, 2015 at about 4pm the mother of a three-year-old victim was at her home in Thokoza informal settlement, Howick when she heard her child screaming from the neighbour’s house,” he said.
“She went to check and found that the door was closed and the child was crying inside. She knocked at the door but nobody opened the door. Then she decided to peep through the hole on the door and she saw the accused raping the child,” Zwane said.
Zwane said the woman called her grandmother to open the door.
After the door was opened, the three-year-old was found laying on the floor bleeding, he said.
Zwane said the child was seriously injured and was taken to the hospital for medical attention.
KwaZulu-Natal Provincial Commissioner, Lieutenant General Mmamonnye Ngobeni commended Howick Family Violence, Child Protection and Sexual Offences Unit members for the swift conviction and sentencing of the accused.
Ngobeni said the arrest and sentence would send a clear message to would-be perpetrators that police would “make sure that cases are thoroughly investigated and perpetrators are bought to book”.
ANA