The Ezakheni Regional Court has sentenced a 43-year-old man to two life terms imprisonment for the rape of two young girls in 2019, in the Ekuvukeni area, KwaZulu-Natal.
National Prosecuting Authority regional spokesperson, Natasha Ramkisson-Kara said the accused was an uncle to one of the girls and he was dating the mother of the second girl; the girls were aged seven and eight years old, at the time.
“On the day of the incident, the girls were playing together at one of their homes when the lights went off. The accused went to them and showed them pornographic videos on his phone. He then asked them to go to the other girl’s house (his girlfriend’s house) where he raped them in the presence of each other. He then threatened them not to tell anyone about what had happened,” said Ms Ramkisson-Kara.
After some time, the one girl eventually confided in her aunt who then contacted the other girl’s family. The families opened a case at the police station and the accused handed himself in, a few days later.
“In their evidence, both girls told the court that they were afraid of the accused, and they had trusted him as he was known to them. Since the accused was sentenced to a term of life imprisonment for each of the rapes, he will effectively serve life imprisonment as the sentences will run concurrently. In addition to the sentence, he was declared unfit to possess a firearm and the court ordered that his name be entered into the National Register for Sex Offenders,” said Ms Ramkisson-Kara.
