The North West High Court has dismissed an appeal by a 24-year-old man who has been sentenced to life imprisonment for raping a 71-year-old woman.
Sello Banda was charged with rape and robbery with aggravating circumstances. Both offences were alleged to have been committed on May, 14 2010 in Moretele outside Brits.
Claimed that act was consensual
He is alleged to have raped the 71-year-old woman and stole her cellphone. But he pleaded not guilty to the charge of rape and raised the defence of consensual sexual intercourse.
On the charge of robbery with aggravating circumstances, he pleaded guilty.
He was consequently convicted of theft and sentenced to one-year imprisonment. Following a trial on the charge of rape, he was convicted and sentenced to life imprisonment.
The appeal lay only against the sentence of life imprisonment imposed on the conviction of rape.
According to the court document, the granny was sleeping in her house. She was awoken by a knock on the door. Thinking that it was her grandson from Johannesburg, she opened the door, and Banda entered.
He assaulted her on her head with a beer bottle. She sustained a wound on her head as a result, which bled profusely. He then dragged her to her bedroom and informed her that he wanted to engage in sexual intercourse with her.
Tore her underwear, cut her hands in the scuffle
He also demanded money. When she refused, Banda tore her underwear. He also proceeded to cut off the beaded necklace around her neck. He used a knife he took from the kitchen on the way to the bedroom. When the old woman resisted by grabbing hold of the blade of the knife, she sustained a cut to her hand.
The court also heard how the granny demanded to know why Banda wanted to sleep with her.
“All the appellant said in reply was that all the old women have money, as they receive grants,” the judge said while handing down the judgment.
Banda’s defence on the rape charge was that there was an agreement with the granny. That he would engage in sexual intercourse with her, in return for protecting her from other criminals.
“She was emotionally traumatised. He took her cell phone. She had to suffer the humiliation of reporting the rape to her neighbours and asking for help.
Sentence upheld
“Taking all these circumstances into account, the personal circumstances of the appellant necessarily recede to the background.
“The aggravating facts and circumstances of this case inherent in the injuries sustained by the complainant an older vulnerable woman, by far outweigh the personal circumstances of the appellant.
“[This] in my view is not at all substantial nor compelling. And does not warrant a deviation from the prescribed sentence of life imprisonment. In my view, the reasoning of the regional magistrate cannot be faulted,” the judge said.
