A 29-year-old Pretoria man was on Thursday sentenced to 22 years behind bars after he was found guilty of raping a 12-year-old girl.
The Atteridgeville magistrate’s court found that the perpetrator had forced himself on the girl multiple times over a short period of time. In a statement, the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) said the man was dating the girl’s aunt at the time of the rapes.
“Mr X [name cannot be revealed to protect the victim’s identity] from Saulsville was living in the same yard with the family of the victim and at the time he was in a relationship with the victim’s aunt,” said NPA spokesperson Lumka Mahanjana.
“In June 2019, in the evening when the child was closing the gate at the request of the grandmother, he saw her and dragged her to the outside toilet where he raped her.”
The victim reported the incident to her grandmother who turned a blind eye.
“Two weeks after the initial incident, the victim was washing the dishes in the kitchen, Mr X came in and sexually assaulted the child again.
“In December 2019, during the school holidays, the victim’s mother noticed a change of behaviour [in her child]. Upon enquiring, the child informed the mother of what had happened.”
Mahanjana added: “The mother reported the matter to the police [and] Mr X was arrested in January 2020. He has been in custody ever since after the NPA successfully opposed bail.”
The court also ordered that his name be added to the National Register for Sexual Offenders and declared him unfit to possess a firearm.
The 62-year-old grandmother of the child has also been summoned to appear in court on charges of failure to report the rape of a minor. The matter will be heard on July 20 at the Atteridgeville district court.
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