MAN SENTENCED TO LIFE IMPRISONMENT FOR RAPE MINOR SISTER-IN-LAW

10 OCTOBER 2025

MAN SENTENCED TO LIFE IMPRISONMENT FOR RAPE MINOR SISTER-IN-LAW

Mitchells Plain, South Africa: The Mitchells Plain Regional Court has sentenced a child rapist to life imprisonment, declared him unfit to possess a firearm, unsuitable to work with children and that his name be recorded in the National Child Protection Register for persons unsuitable to work with children and ordered his name to be placed in the National Register for Sex Offenders. The NPA does not name the accused as he is the brother-in-law of the victim and strives to protect the victim against secondary victimization. The accused has been convicted on 10 counts of rape which started when the victim was six years old and continued between over the years until she was 15 years old.

Regional Court Prosecutor, Sergio Lorenzo Goff, led evidence which revealed that the spate of rapes started at the age of 6 when her mother, father and wife of the accused were at a church function. She was left with the accused and his daughter watching television in one of Mitchells Plain’s suburbs. The accused, his wife and their children were staying in a wendy house in the victim’s parents’ house yard. He called her into the wendy house, took off her clothes, and raped her. The rapes continued from there over the years even at the accused’s workplace. At all times he threatened to kill her if she told anyone about the rapes.

A breakthrough came when the victim told a carer at her school that the accused touched her breasts and private parts. The carer informed the social worker at the school, and this led to a case being opened with the police. The accused pleaded not guilty and portrayed the victim as a bad person who was a habitual liar. He denied knowing anything about the rapes and claimed the victim was set up by her family or that the charges emanated from a feud he has with his in-laws. His wife who is the sister of the victim testified in his defence, and it came out during cross examination that she and the accused discussed the case, and the accused had given her insight into what has been testified in court.

The prosecutor put it to her that her testimony was because of what the accused discussed with her. She further confirmed that if the accused was found guilty and sentenced to a term of imprisonment, her life would change both financially and physically. Arguing in aggravation of sentence, Goff told the court that the accused showed no remorse for his actions even after being convicted by the court. He told the court that the victim experienced feelings of depression, frustration and anger. She always doubted herself to speak up about what happened as she feared the consequences of losing her family and potentially not being believed. She felt alone and experienced bad dreams of what happened to her and at some stage became suicidal and acted out of anger to her family.

She trusted the accused however to her dismay; he took away her innocence and took advantage of her from a young age. She will never get her childhood back and the accused, as her boeta, was supposed to protect her and keep her safe. She is still trying to pick up the pieces and want to know why the accused did what he did.

Goff further argued that the accused was constantly dishonest to the court on simple questions. He displayed a character contrary to what is described in the probation officers report by his family. The accused took advantage of the victim and calculated and manipulated every opportunity to rape her. He abused the trust she and her family had in him as their boeta. She was powerless to resist as he orchestrated situations which led to the complainant being instructed by adult family members to go to the places where she was violated by the accused. The personal circumstances of the accused, while favorable, cannot be described as extraordinary. The trial is replete with the many ways in which the accused sought to portray himself as a good person and he had no problem tainting the image and reputation of the victim and her family by describing them as drunkards, greedy, anti-Muslim, isolated, and abusive towards everyone.

Western Cape Director of Public Prosecutions, Adv Nicolette Bell, welcomed the sentence and applauded the investigation and prosecution team for their work in ensuring justice for the victim who was violated most cruelly at a very young age.

Issued by:

Eric Ntabazalila

National Prosecuting Authority

Regional Communications Manager – Western Cape

Tel: (021) 487 7308

Mobile: 073 062 1222