Kimberley - Gabriel Lekwene, who made a six-year-old girl drunk and then raped her, was sentenced to 18 years direct imprisonment by the Kimberley Regional Court.
The court found that Lekwene, 40, had made his victim drink wine before he raped her in his shanty. Magistrate Jesse Clarke had found Lekwene guilty last Thursday and sentenced him on Friday.
The prosecution only needed three witnesses; the mother of the child, the friend and neighbour of the mother as well as the doctor who examined the child, to seal Lekwene’s fate.
Previous testimony given by the friend of the victim’s mother said that she was informed on her way to fetch water by other children that Lekwene had given the victim wine and locked her inside his shanty.
She went to the shanty and knocked on the door but could only hear the child making a humming noise after she called her twice.
The third time she called the child, she did not respond.
She then went to inform the mother who went to the shanty and found Lekwene on top of her daughter.
The mother said they were both naked and after pushing him aside she grabbed her daughter and ran out of the shanty.
After getting assistance and clothes for the child from community members, she reported the matter to the police.
The doctor testified that she saw red marks on the child’s genitalia and also noticed that the girl could not stand on her feet, which led her to conclude that the victim was drunk because she could also smell the alcohol on the victim’s breath.
The State, represented by advocate Ntombi Fanayo, told the court that Lekwene performed a despicable act and wanted a life sentence to be imposed.
“The victim in this case is six years old. The accused not only raped her but gave her alcohol. She was already defenceless against him, seeing he is an adult and she just a child, but he had to go to the extreme of getting her drunk. The accused knew the victim and all the other children in the area. They grew up in front of him and called him ‘Oom Ras’, which is an indication they respected him. He ought to be ashamed of having violated the child in such a manner,” Fanayo said.
She said the fact that the accused was a father himself, did not stop him from committing this heinous deed.
“The accused has four children, two of them being twin girls. If he can do this to a six-year-old child, what is stopping him from doing the same thing to his daughters? What example is he setting to his children?”
The defence, represented by JC Bergh, pleaded with the court to consider compelling circumstances.
“The accused is 40 years old and is a first-time offender. He has been in custody for one year and six months already. The act he committed is of a serious nature, but it wasn’t done in a violent way whereby the victim sustained gruesome injuries. There are cases where rape is done in a much more gruesome and violent manner than in this case. Handing a life sentence will be too cruel of a punishment,” Bergh said.
The magistrate said that he took all evidence presented into consideration and had to determine whether there are compelling circumstances in the matter that might change a verdict of life sentence.
He said that he struggled to find compelling circumstances in the matter.
“You are a 40-year-old man who gave a six-year-old child alcohol and then . . .” he said.
“However, as the defence has said, the manner in which the act was committed was not in a violent nature and I have to take that into consideration. The courts have seen many cases of rape whereby the complainant’s private parts were ripped apart and couldn’t walk. In situations like those the court had no problem in handing a life sentence. There are also cases whereby the complainant was attacked by knives or other weapons, in such situations the court also gives a life sentence.
“In this case I do, however, have to consider the manner in which the crime was committed. There was redness on the genitalia but the hymen was still intact and other parts of vagina were also intact. You have been in custody for one year and six months.
“When I had to consider your personal circumstances, there was nothing besides the fact that you are 40 years old, that is out of the ordinary,” the magistrate said.
Clarke told Lekwene that he had committed a crime that society was sick and tired of.
“This is a serious crime. You not only violated the privacy of the child in this matter, but you have shattered her mother’s heart. You yourself are a father of young daughters, imagine if someone decided to do such a thing to your daughters?
“I can also determine that you put some planning into your actions; first you got the complainant dunk, then undressed her, undressed yourself and then raped her inside your house. Whilst you were busy, the first witness was told about the incident by children who were playing outside. She went and knocked on your door but that didn’t stop you, you carried on with the deed. Minutes later the mother of the child had to forcefully get into the shanty and forcefully grab her daughter from beneath you, but by that time the deed was already done.
“It is a mystery why you did what you did. I can only guess it might have been to satisfy your lust. Not only could this child not defend herself, but you made her drunk in order to satisfy your lust.”
Clarke added that he hoped Lekwene’s sentence would be a deterrent to those who are planning on committing similar crimes.
“The community is sick of hearing about children who are raped. We see reports about it daily on the news or read about it in the newspaper. Communities complain and march against it, but still this doesn’t stop it.
“Children are raped in schools, hostels, in the veld and in their own homes. In this case you took a child who was innocently playing and raped her inside your shack.
“You told your defence representative that you were not under the influence of alcohol and were at your full consciousness but your lust drove you to carry out your act. For that you deserve a long sentence and your name will be entered in the Register for Sexual Offenders,” said Clarke.
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