Life Imprisonment For Rapist After Boy Reports Six Years Later

The Verulam Regional Court sentenced a 28-year-old man to life imprisonment for the repeated rape of his neighbour in March 2013. The man was 20 years old at the time and the boy was four. The man lived in the same block of flats in Phoenix as the boy and his mother. At some stage, the boy’s mother got ill and had to stay in hospital. The boy went to live with the nanny, who also lived in the same flat??.

The accused would regularly fetch the boy from the nanny’s flat, under the pretence of playing video games but would rape him instead. This occurred on several occasions. However, on the last occasion the child reported the incident to the nanny. She confronted the man who denied it, but she then told the man’s mother about it. 

Nobody told the boy’s mother about the rape when she returned from hospital and after some time, she and the boy then moved to Johannesburg. In 2019, the mother caught the boy watching pornography and he was only 10 years old. She asked him where he had learnt about this kind of material and it was at this point that he told her, that he was exposed to porn when his neighbour raped him. She took him to a psychiatrist for help and they then opened a case against the man. 

The man handed himself over to the police in April 2019, but he denied any wrongdoing. In the absence of medical evidence, Regional Court Prosecutor Ishara Sewnarayan led the testimony of the boy as well as his mother and the nanny. To bolster the State’s case in aggravation of sentence, Sewnarayan handed in a Victim Impact Statement to the court. In the statement, facilitated by Court Preparation Officer Bongiwe Qwabe and compiled by the boy, he said he is still dealing with the effects of the rape. He is being treated for depression and is constantly on medication. He has lost trust in all men and cannot have a normal relationship with his father. This is very upsetting for him.

The man was sentenced to life imprisonment and he was declared unfit to possess a firearm. The court ruled that his name be entered into the National Register for Sexual Offenders. 

The NPA commends the work of the prosecuting and investigating teams in securing this successful prosecution. While we encourage victims of abuse to speak out as soon as possible, this matter demonstrates that justice can still be done even after a few years.

Issued by

Natasha Ramkisson-Kara

NPA Regional Spokesperson

KZN Division

Enquiries: nramkisson@npa.gov.za / 0716700229