Man sentenced to life in jail for rape of girl, 8

AN INDWE man was yesterday sentenced to life imprisonment for the rape of an eight-year-old child.

Sindile Moss, 32, consistently denied he had ever even seen the little girl despite DNA evidence linking him directly to the rape.

Senior forensic analyst at the Forensic Science Laboratory in the Western Cape Lieutenant Buhle Boyana testified each person’s DNA profile was unique and, barring an identical twin, the chances of there being another person with the same DNA as Moss was conservatively one in 70 billion.

In sentencing him to life, Judge Clive Plasket yesterday found his denial of the rape in the face of an unanswerable case put up by the state as an aggravating factor.

“The fact that he chose to put the state to the proof of its case – necessitating the calling of the complainant as a witness – indicates a cynical lack of any remorse on his part, a lack of insight into the gravity of his conduct and consequently, poor prospects of rehabilitation.”

In May last year, Moss lured the little girl to his house as she was on the way to her Indwe home with the promise of R5. He then raped her, given her the R5 and threatened to kill her if she told anyone.

However, her concerned granny forced the truth out of the little girl. A medical exam confirmed she had been raped and semen retrieved from her had been sent off for DNA analysis.

But, it was only three months later while the little girl was walking to church that she had recognised Moss’s house as the place where she had been raped.

He was arrested and she later identified him as the rapist. His DNA also matched that of the retrieved semen.

Plasket said the little girl was a good, coherent and consistent witness, while Moss had been a poor and untruthful one.

Moss claimed he was at his girlfriend’s home on the day of the rape.

Plasket described child rape as a scourge and said it was incumbent on the courts to do what they could to protect vulnerable children by imposing sentences that sent a clear signal to others.

He said the little girl suffered severe psychological trauma – she wet her bed, was forgetful, inattentive at school and had nightmares. “The seriousness of the offence is compounded by its severe and long-term psychological impact on the complainant.”

He said a sentence of life imprisonment was proportionate to the crime.