A Cape Town man sentenced to life imprisonment for raping his young stepdaughter has lost his appeal, with the high court describing the case as a “harrowing series of tragedies” and finding no reason to interfere with either his conviction or sentence.
Judge Nobahle Mangcu-Lockwood said the man’s claims that he was a first-time offender with prospects of rehabilitation and that his advanced age should count in his favour were completely without merit.
The court found that he had destroyed the lives of both his now 13-year-old stepdaughter and her mother. He was 60 when he began raping the child at the age of eight, repeatedly assaulting her over two years, ending with the child falling pregnant, being taken from her mother, giving birth and being diagnosed HIV positive.
“This [crime] took the form of repeated vaginal and anal sex, oral sex and sexualised touch of the breasts and vagina. Undeterred by his discovery of the commencement of her menstrual period, he continued to rape her until she fell pregnant at 10,” said Mangcu-Lockwood.
The man’s name has been withheld to protect the identity of the child, who was removed from her mother’s care at age 10 after her pregnancy was discovered.
“When people in the street and children at school started calling her names and making comments that she was pregnant, she did not understand what pregnancy meant. She was vomiting three to four times a day. It was not until someone at her school reported their suspicions that there was some intervention,” said the court.
The child’s mother took her to a day hospital, where it emerged that the stepfather had already taken her to “visit a lady with rasta hair who lived in a brown building”. The woman gave the child tablets, instructing her not to tell her mother. The tablets only made the child drowsy.
After the pregnancy was detected, the girl was removed from her home and placed in three successive places of safety. In the third home she discovered she was HIV positive “in the most cruel way” when another child recognised her medication and told her what it was for.
“Even during the trial, the social worker testified that the complainant still did not understand the full significance of the disease,” the court said.
The child went into premature labour and was rushed to hospital, but it was too late for a caesarean section. She was compelled to deliver naturally, without pain medication and without her mom present. The mother could not be found after losing her accommodation with the child’s stepfather, the rapist.
The child said giving birth at age 10 had been agonisingly painful. She felt a profound sense of loss when the baby was taken from her for a closed adoption. She also missed living with her mother.
Because of her trauma, the child was unable to give oral evidence. Her account was presented by social worker Capt A Lakey of the Delft family violence, child protection and sexual offences unit, who testified on her behalf and submitted three impact reports compiled after interviewing and assessing her.
“She must be commended for providing the court with a comprehensive voice for the hapless complainant,” the court said.
The stepfather was convicted of repeatedly raping the child over two years, when she was legally incapable of consenting.
“As a result of the rape, the complainant became pregnant at nine years old, had a child and contracted HIV,” and DNA tests showed he was 99,99% the father of the baby.
A medico-legal report confirmed the child was 10 when she gave birth at 29 weeks and three days into her pregnancy and that she tested HIV positive.
The stepfather was the only witness in his defence. He claimed the child and her mother had conspired to seduce him.
“Eventually, he found himself on top of the complainant who was lying on a bed naked and, in his words, he ‘f**ked the child’. He later tried to retract this evidence,” the court said.
The complainant’s childhood was destroyed by the appellant’s conduct. Her family unit was torn apart because, once her pregnancy was discovered, she was separated from her mother and taken away to three successive places of safety.
— Judge Nobahle Mangcu-Lockwood
Mangcu-Lockwood found the trial magistrate had correctly ruled that the state proved its case beyond reasonable doubt and that the accused had unlawful sexual intercourse with a nine-year-old who could not consent.
She dismissed the appeal against conviction and found no reason to depart from the prescribed minimum sentence of life imprisonment for the rape of a minor.
“It is also settled law that the prescribed minimum sentences should not be departed from lightly and for flimsy reasons.”
The judge held that the man’s age was an aggravating, not mitigating, factor because he failed to protect the child and instead preyed on her.
“The complainant’s childhood was destroyed by the appellant’s conduct. Her family unit was torn apart because, once her pregnancy was discovered, she was separated from her mother and taken away to three successive places of safety. By the time of sentencing she had moved to four different schools,” the court said.
The child now suffers depression, despair, low self-esteem, fear, trauma, dissociation, guilt, confusion, shame, stigmatisation and feelings of entrapment. She struggles with insomnia and with back and hip pain caused by giving birth before her body was fully developed. This is compounded by the loss of her mother’s care and the permanent loss of her baby.
The court found the man had shown no remorse.
Would you like to comment on this article?
Sign up (it's quick and free) or sign in now.
Please read our Comment Policy before commenting.