Teen’s 4-year rape terror
VICTIM CONFIDED IN BROTHER
A TEENAGE girl yesterday could not control her emotions after a man she regarded as a brother was convicted for repeatedly raping her for four years.
The girl, aged 18, wept when magistrate Audrey Mpofu convicted Vuyo Watson Mhlungu, 42, in the Protea Regional Court in Soweto of six counts of rape.
The victim, who was seated behind Mhlungu, covered her face with her hands while her mother, 44, was rubbing her back, comforting her.
Mpofu dismissed Mhlungu’s evidence and described him as shallow and untruthful when he denied that he raped the victim from 2009 to 2013.
“All we heard from the accused is ‘I didn’t do it’ and ‘I would do it with people my age’ and ‘why would I do it with a child’,” she said.
Mpofu said she was satisfied that the victim told the truth although she could not give specific dates.
As Mhlungu was being led to the holding cells, he claimed he was innocent and accused the victim of fabricating lies against him.
The victim was 11 and in Grade 5 when the rapes started. Her mother and Mhlungu’s mother were friends and they also attended the same church in Dobsonville, Soweto.
The girl and her mother had since changed churches after Mhlungu’s arrest. When she was younger, the girl would visit Mhlungu’s younger sister and also stay over during school holidays.
The victim had testified that the rapes took place in Mhlungu’s mother’s bedroom.
“The sexual violations occurred mostly during the day when adults were not around.
“The rapes stopped when the girl was 15. She remembered in June 2009 while she was bathing at the accused’s home, he went into the bathroom, rubbed her back and called her to his mother’s bedroom.
Mhlungu was arrested on February 15 2013 after the girl confided in her brother about the rapes.
The brother took her to the police where a case was opened and she was then taken for a medical examination where it was established that she had been sexually penetrated.
The crimes affected the victim’s performance at school and she repeated Grade 10. She became disruptive as she grew older, she testified that she even started smoking and had a boyfriend at 15.
Mpofu said the girl testified that while studying life orientation at school she then became aware that what was being done to her by the accused was wrong.
“I am dealing with many child rapes in this court. Child rape has certain dynamics and secrets and in most cases victims, especially girls, are afraid to come out because they don’t know what they are dealing with.”