Pretoria - The man who raped his stepdaughter several times since she was 12 and also impregnated her several times deserved three life sentences, and not the 20 years meted out by the high court.
The rapist initially received three life sentences after he was convicted on three charges of rape by the Ermelo Regional Court. However, he appealed his convictions in the Gauteng High Court, Pretoria.
Two judges of the high court confirmed his conviction, but they reduced his sentence to 20 years on each charge and ordered that he had to serve 20 years effectively.
The judges reasoned that as life sentences on rape charges went, this was not the worst kind of the crime and did not deserve a life behind bars.
The Director of Public Prosecutions took the matter to the Supreme Court of Appeal, which said the high court erred in not giving the ultimate sentence.
Five judges of that court agreed and said there were many aggravating factors in this case, warranting no less a sentence than life on each rape charge.
The complainant, a minor at the time, started living with her mother and stepfather in 2010. She testified that during November 2011, August 2012 and February 2015, she was raped on numerous occasions by him.
She was only 12 when it started. The victim told the court her stepfather would usually approach her after school when no one else was present at home. He gained her trust by telling her he would “show her what boys do to girls”. He then raped her on several occasions.
The repeated rapes did not only cause the complainant to lose her virginity, but it also resulted in her falling pregnant several times.
She said he influenced her to tell her mother that she was impregnated by her boyfriend on each occasion. When the complainant’s mother wanted to approach the boy’s parents, the stepfather convinced her not to, saying it was unnecessary as “boys nowadays always deny impregnating girls”.
The multiple pregnancies were terminated by the use of pills from shops allegedly run by Nigerian citizens. The stepfather bought these for her on each of the occasions.
The complainant’s mother at some stage rejected her, believing her child slept around with boys.
The court was also told that the stepfather isolated the complainant because he did not want to see her with her male school friends. He often followed her after school to check on her.
In concluding that the sentences were disproportionate to the offences of rape the man was convicted of, the high court judges earlier said that “society has given us worse examples of the extent or brutality of crimes against women”.
The five justices of the Supreme Court said these remarks showed that the high court considered this case not to fall under “the worst kind of scenario”.
Acting Judge AM Kgoele, who wrote the Supreme Court judgment, said: “In this matter, sight should not be lost of the fact that society views the respondent’s heinous conduct in a very serious light.”
The judge said the stepfather not only raped the child from a young age, but impregnated her several times.
To make matters worse, he time and again subjected her to the danger and anguish of abortions.
The judge added that according to the victim’s evidence of how many times she was raped by her stepfather, he could have in fact many more charges than only three of rape.
“If one has regard to the circumstances as to how the rapes were committed, including the consequences that flowed from them, there is no doubt that they are horrendous enough to justify the imposition of the maximum penalty,” the judge said.
Pretoria News