EASTERN CAPE - MAN SENTENCED TO LIFE IMPRISONMENT FOR RAPING HIS 7 YEAR OLD DAUGHTER

A 41-year-old man convicted of raping his own daughter has been sentenced to life imprisonment by the Bhisho High Court in the Eastern Cape.

The man's 35-year- old customary wife has been handed a ten-year jail term for aiding him in raping the then seven-year-old girl. Both the man and his wife are
the child's biological parents.

The court heard that the incidents took place between 2014 and 2015 in Mdantsane. At the time, the girl was only seven-years- old.

High Court Judge, Selby Mbenenge, has lashed out on the parents for failing to protect their child. Judge Mbenenge says the sentence imposed on the two sends out a strong message to other perpetrators.

“The man upon whom it was incumbent to protect his offspring became a molester, destroying completely the father daughter relationship. That a mother would aid her partner to commit rape in their off spring is despicable. Accused number one is sentenced to undergo life in prison, and accused two is sentenced to undergo ten years in prison mandated from her date of arrest.”

Petros Majola of the Peddie-based Children's rights organisation, the Khula Development Project, has strongly condemned the rape.

“It is bad when the mother is involved as much as the father is also not allowed to have sexual relations with his own daughter. Even if we were not talking about a minor, but we are talking about own flash and blood, which amounts to incest so we condemn it. We don't want to see these things happening in our society.”

The judge was damning in his judgment, saying the court had the duty to protect the child against parents who had breached their sacred duty to raise their child with love and to provide for its physical and spiritual needs.

VIA - sabc