Cape Town - One of the victims of convicted paedophile Johannes Adolf Kleinhans tried to commit suicide twice, documents presented in the Parow Regional Court in Cape Town on Thursday revealed.
Two statements, one by the girl and the other by her mother, described to the court how both felt about the incidents of sexual and indecent assault.
Kleinhans, 74, faced sentencing before Magistrate Amanda van Leeve on 95 counts, including the possession of child pornography.
He comes from a family of business people and prior to his arrest, was a director of several companies and chief executive of one.
Prosecutor Herculine Swart handed several documents and the statements to the court on Thursday for sentencing purposes.
In one of the statements, the girl described her feelings of shock and embarrassment after the incident.
“I became very self-conscious and introverted, and I had a burden of secrets that I was unable to share with girls whom I regarded as my best friends,” she said.
“This affected my social life and social skills.”
Because of the time that had passed since the incidents, the girl had been able to process it and was now “almost over it”.
She wanted to forgive Kleinhans, and to forget about what happened.
The girl's mother said in her statement that she blamed herself for her daughter's ordeal.
She had spent several hours with her daughter to try and get her to believe in herself again.
“It went well for a time, but then she tried to commit suicide by hanging herself in her room.”
The mother said her daughter was admitted to hospital as a result of the suicide attempt. The girl spent 14 days locked in a room in the hospital before the mother was allowed to take her home again.
She said her daughter suffered mood swings as a result of her ordeal and she later tried to commit suicide a second time by taking an overdose of tablets.
The mother said the girl now suffered major depression, which had affected her performance at school.
“My feelings as a mother are that I am very disappointed in the accused,” she wrote.
“I have done the best I can, and I will stand by my child and bring her back to the lady that she was.”
Sentencing continues on January 29. - Sapa