Mother sold child for sex to old man

Hawks successful in prosecuting

LAST week, the police investigating unit, the Hawks, won a court conviction against a Queenstown mother for prostituting her then 11-year-old daughter to a 65-year-old photographer.

The exploitation apparently began in 2012 but the mother and the man were only arrested in 2014 when the victim, who cannot be named because of the nature of the crime, was saved by a customer who went to collect photographs from the photographer.

The mother was arrested and charged with child trafficking and the photographer was charged with rape.

Eastern Cape Hawks spokeswoman, Captain Anelisa Feni said the mother and the photographer were found guilty by the Lady Frere regional court last week for rape and allowing a child to be sexually exploited.

“Hawks provincial head MajorGeneral Nyameko Nogwanya warns human traffickers that those who are still doing this will be caught,” said Feni.

According to Feni, the mother, who also cannot be named to protect the victim, apparently gave the man permission to have sex with the little girl in exchange for money.

“The Hawks investigation revealed that the sexual exploitation against the minor began towards the end of 2012.

“The mother’s motive for committing such a crime was to satisfy her alcohol addiction,” said Feni.

The two will return to the Lady Frere court on September 14 for sentencing.

The conviction comes on the heels of the July sentencing – thanks to the same unit’s work – of Pinityi Shadrack Mathiso, 57, in the Humansdorp regional court to five years imprisonment for trafficking people for sexual purposes. Last year, Mathiso lured three women aged between 19 and 27 to his home in Jeffrey’s Bay with false offers of jobs.

The three women were from Ngqeleni, Matatiele and Mount Frere, and Mathiso got their numbers through a popular national radio show, which allows callers seeking work to give their telephone numbers on air.

“It became apparent to them that there was no job available for them and that Mathiso had called them to perform sexual favours for him,” said Feni.

The women managed to escape and reported Mathiso to the social development department and police arrested him soon after.

In 2014, a 59-year-old Stutterheim businessman from Toise village was arrested by the Hawks on five counts of rape involving three minors.

He was arrested alongside a 35year-old woman from Xholorha village, who is the biological mother of one of the children allegedly raped by the man.

The victims at the time were between the ages of 12 and 13 and were allegedly raped by the man between November 2013 and January 2014.

It is alleged the businessman would contact the mother by cellphone and arrange to meet her and the children. He would then take them to his home, rape them and give them between R90 and R150. The mother would take the money and give the children R20 each, demanding they keep the secret. The trial is still ongoing.

The Hawks investigation on these cases has been praised by Khula Community Development director, Petros Majola.

“When action is taken by the police and they come up with successes, the community develop trust and come to report similar cases with the hope that the perpetrators will go to jail,” he said.