Life Imprisonment for Rapist Stepbrother

31 MARCH 2025

Life Imprisonment for Rapist Stepbrother

The Empangeni Regional Court has sentenced a 30-year-old man to life imprisonment for the rape (on diverse occasions) of his 14-year-old stepsister between 2022 and 2023 in the Ntambanana area. On these occasions, the accused would call the complainant into his room where her would instruct her to undress and then rape her. He did this when nobody else was around and threatened to kill her if she told anyone what he was doing. The complainant eventually wrote down the details of her ordeal onto a letter, which was discovered by her friend. Her friend then handed the letter over to the teacher who informed the school principal. It was the school principal who contacted the social workers, and the complainant was moved to a place of safety. The complainant was taken to the Thuthuzela Care Centre located at Ngwelezane and the accused was suqsequently arrested.

In court, Prosecutor Edwina Du Plessis handed in Victim Impact Statements, compiled by the complainant and by a social worker, and facilitated by Court Preparation Officer Seneliso Sibanda. In her statement, the complainant said that she hated her brother because it is due to his actions that she had to be removed from her family and she now lives with strangers. She said that she loved and cared for her brother, and she did not expect him to do what he had done to her. The social worker mentioned, in her statement, that the complainant had attempted suicide because she felt that she had no family and no sense of belonging. She also said that the complainant was very disturbed by what had happened to her.

In addition to the life sentence, the accused was declared unfit to possess a firearm, and the court ordered that his name is entered into the National Register for Sex Offenders.

Curbing the scourge of gender-based violence and sexual offences is an organisational priority for the NPA. Together with our partners in the Justice Cluster, we are mandated to fight for justice for justice on behalf of the victims of crime, moreover, the most vulnerable ones.
 

Issued by:

Natasha Ramkisson-Kara
NPA Regional Spokesperson
KZN Division
0716700229