A 30-year-old man Tshepo Veli Mazibuko convicted of raping a nine-year-old girl has been sentenced to life imprisonment by the Emalahleni Regional Court on Friday in what the Mpumalanga police commissioner describes as a jail term that sends a strong message against perpetrators of gender-based violence.
Lieutenant General Semakaleng Daphney Manamela said she hoped the sentence imposed on Mazibuko will serve as a deterrence to others who might consider emulating the actions of the accused.
Mazibuko was arrested in 2019 two years after committing the rape in 2017.
According to the police, the rape was only reported in 2019 when the girl confided in social workers who had come to her school to talk to pupils about the social ills happening around them.
“The police were then alerted and a rape case was opened. The docket was assigned to the family violence, child protection and sexual offences unit and after an investigation was conducted, the man was arrested and charged,” Brigadier Selvy Mohlala said in a statement yesterday.
According to information from the police, Mazibuko from Phola which falls under the Emalahleni local municipality, was a friend of the family who obtained permission from the guardian of the girl and her sibling to pick them up to attend his child’s birthday party.
“Upon their arrival at the party, the accused dropped off the victim’s younger brother and requested her to accompany him to buy some drinks at the shop,” said Mohlala in his statement.
“Along the way, the accused took a different direction and stopped the vehicle next to a shack near the bushes. He raped her. Drove back to pick up the younger brother after threatening to kill the girl if she reported the incident. Thereafter it is said that the man dropped the siblings at their homestead.”
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