A LONG WAIT FOR JUSTICE
First Lady intervenes to get rapist locked up
In a historical sexual assault case, a young woman who was sexually abused by her mother’s boyfriend has finally gotten justice after 12 years.
The rapist, Brian Nyamombe, 54, was this week convicted and sentenced to 10 years in jail.
During trial, the court heard that the victim was raped at eight years of age when she was in Standard 2 while her stepdad was 46 years old.
The matter was reported last year April and initially the police dismissed it due to lack of evidence.
The determined young woman reported the matter to the First Lady, Neo Masisi’s office and that was when the police acted swiftly.
The victim had a twin brother who committed suicide at boarding school on allegations that he was haunted by the trauma of watching his sister being raped several times in his presence.
Nyamombe was, however, nailed by his reply to a text message that the victim sent to him last year asking him to explain why he had raped her when he was supposed to have protected her as a father.
The text message conversation, which was filed as evidence in court read; “Why did you rape me in the first place, didn’t you consider me as your daughter? You were supposed to protect me but ruined my life. I need an explanation. Did you ever think of how I would live my life after what you did to me?
Nyamombe fell for the bait, admitted to rape in his reply and profusely apologised for betraying the young woman’s trust.
In sentencing the magistrate, Lenthabetse Willie described the matter as “a historic sexual assault case.”
He noted that it was important to consider that there was a serious outcry of violence against women and the girl child and went on to say that there was an application from the society for the courts to impose stiff penalties for such offences.
“The relationship of the victim and the accused was of trust. He was her mother’s boyfriend but the victim addressed him as dad though he was not his biological father. This was evident from the SMS conversation that was filed in court,” said Willie.
The magistrate further revealed that Nyamombe had ripped the victim’s flesh apart to an extent that she could not walk properly but according to her, he did not stop, as he raped her not only once but several times. Willie therefore sentenced Nyamombe to 10 years in prison and advised him of his right to appeal within 14 days. Meanwhile, in mitigation Nyamombe pleaded with the court to be lenient on him because he was a first offender and a sole breadwinner, married with two children. He also said he had learnt his lesson during the time he had already spent in prison pending trial.