MAN SENTENCED TO LIFE IMPRISONMENT FOR RAPE OF PARTNER’S MINOR CHILD 

27 NOVEMBER 2025 

MAN SENTENCED TO LIFE IMPRISONMENT FOR RAPE OF PARTNER’S MINOR CHILD 

Worcester, South Africa; The Worcester Regional Court has sentenced a 31-year-old man to life imprisonment after his conviction for the rape of his partner’s minor child. The State is not naming the accused to avoid indirectly identifying the 10-year-old victim and secondary victimisation. Acting regional court prosecutor, Cornelius Prinsloo, told the court that the victim, her brother, and her mother stayed with the accused on a farm in Rawsonville, where the accused worked. Her mother and the accused were in a romantic relationship. Prinsloo led the victim in her testimony, who was 13 years old, through a closed-circuit television system with the assistance of an intermediary in a closed court session to reduce the secondary trauma of testifying in the presence of the accused. 

She testified that one evening in August 2022, she was sleeping on the couch in the living room while the accused was socialising with his friends outside. When his friends left, he entered the residence where the victim woke up to the accused covering her mouth and undressing her. He proceeded to rape her and threatened to kill her if she told anyone. She did not tell anyone about what had happened until she and her mother moved to Paarl to stay with her aunt after a domestic violence incident between her mother and the accused. 

Her aunt noticed her behavioural changes and enquired what was going on. She disclosed what had happened to her in Rawsonville a month prior. Her aunt reported what had happened to the victim’s father who then contacted the police to open a case. The accused was arrested. The victim was referred to the Worcester Thuthuzela Care Centre (TCC), where the medical examination was conducted, trauma containment services were rendered, and safety planning was initiated. Together with a relevant child protection organisation, she was placed in safe care and therapeutic support services were put in place. The accused denied the allegations, stating that nothing happened between him and the victim. 

Prinsloo argued during sentencing that the accused took the innocence of a child who was in his care, the consequences of which she evidently will carry with her for the rest of her life. This occurs against a background of a country where offences of this nature are not only prevalent but manifest themselves as a gnawing fear in the back of the minds of many women and children in the country, that there is a statistical likelihood that they might end up a victim of gender-based violence. 

He argued that the court has a corresponding duty to abate these fears of the most vulnerable in society and strike an opposing and corresponding fear in the minds of offenders and would be perpetrators that the courts would not hesitate to impose the prescribed minimum sentences for offences which the legislature, as representatives of the public, has ordained for certain categories of crimes which are deserving of the most severe punishments in our law. He further argued that there were no substantial and compelling circumstances before the court that warranted a deviation from the prescribed sentence of life imprisonment. 

Prinsloo also submitted a Victim Impact Statement which the victim says things changed a lot after her rape. She loved school but lost interest after the rape. The worst is that her mother blames her for her rape. She blames her (victim) for the rapist being imprisoned. She tells the victim that she is the reason her boyfriend is in prison. This hurts her (victim), makes her cry and feel bad about herself. She still has nightmares about what had happened and wakes up at night. Her biological father cares about her and always wants to know her whereabouts. He is scared that something like this (rape) will happen to her again. The court agreed with Prinsloo that there were substantial and compelling reasons to deviate from the prescribed sentence and sentenced the accused to life imprisonment. 

Western Cape Director of Public Prosecution Adv Nicolette Bell applauded Warrant Officer Krokani of the Worcester Family Violence, Child Protection and Sexual Offences Unit (FCS) and Prinsloo for their dedication to ensuring justice for the victim. She berated the accused for taking advantage of a minor who saw him as a father figure. She expressed shock at the alleged unbecoming behaviour of the mother, who blamed the victim for the accused’s imprisonment. She committed to the NPA in the fight against gender-based violence beyond the 16 Days of Activism of No Violence Against Women and Children. 

Issued by: 

Eric Ntabazalila 

National Prosecuting Authority 

Regional Communications Manager – Western Cape 

Tel: (021) 487 7308 

Mobile: 073 062 1222