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THE MOTHIBISTAD Regional Court in the Northern Cape sentenced a 54-year-old man to three life sentences for raping a 12-year-old girl from 2018 to 2019.
The name of the convicted rapist is being withheld to protect the identity of the minor victim as he used to be in a relationship with the victim’s aunt.
The court heard that on the morning of October 25, 2019, the 12-year-old girl’s aunt was called to her school in Seven Miles Village in Mothibistad after the child complained of abnormal pains before being admitted to hospital.
The girl told her aunt and the teacher that she was raped by the accused from 2018 to October 2019.
She said that the first time it happened, the child was sent by her aunt to take food to the home of another aunt.
According to regional police spokesperson Sergeant Molefi Shemane, the accused was in a relationship with the aunt and the girl was visiting. The accused and the aunt lived together.
The victim said that her aunt was not at home when the child was raped.
“The suspect grabbed her and took her to his bedroom, undressed and forcefully raped her inside his house. The suspect then threatened her with injury if she should tell anyone of the assault.
“The second incident, the victim went past the suspect's house, the suspect called her, took her inside the shanty and locked it and forcefully raped the victim,” Shemane said.
The police said the Mothibistad Regional Court convicted and sentenced the accused to three life sentences.
Northern Cape police commissioner Lieutenant-General Koliswa Otola commended the investigating officer in the case, Detective Sergeant Precious Shoeman, for her work.