Johannesburg - The Johannesburg magistrate's court has sentenced a 27-year-old man to life behind bars for raping a 12-year-old child.
Tshiu Joseph Mofukeng raped the girl in the early hours of the morning of December 26 last year.
Police spokesperson Captain Xoli Mbele said the child's aunt took her to a Christmas party at a flat on Heidelberg road. Later that night, she took a group of children to another flat to sleep and returned to the party.
"When she came to check the children she realised that her niece was not in the house with the other children. One of the children told her that she left with the suspect".
Mofukeng had taken the child under the pretext that he needed her to help him look for someone.
Mbele said her aunt heard her screaming and when they found her she said she had been raped "while he closed her mouth with his hand. After he finished raping her that is when she was able to scream".
Police patrolling the area arrested Mofukeng and the child was taken to hospital where doctors confirmed she had been raped.
The court ordered Mofukeng's name be included in the National Register for Sex Offenders and he was declared unfit to possess a firearm.