Woman, farmer to plead guilty

A STUTTERHEIM mother and farmer yesterday both said they would plead guilty to a string of child prostitution related charges that rocked the small community.

The woman cannot be named to protect her daughter’s identity, while the farmer cannot be named as he is yet to plead to the charges.

The state alleges that the woman had offered three girls to the farmer for financial gain. Together, they face 28 charges, including sexual exploitation of a child and human trafficking for sexual purposes.

The woman also faces charges of living and benefiting from the earnings of sexual exploitation of a child and the farmer two counts of rape.

At the time of their arrest last year, the woman and the farmer were aged 25 and 59, respectively.

The woman’s daughter was just 11 years old when she was allegedly first offered to the farmer in June 2012 for sex.

The woman then allegedly had her daughter recruit the two other girls, aged 15 and 11, who were neighbours.

Yesterday, the court heard the sexual assaults had lasted until January last year.

The state allege the farmer gave the woman between R90 and R150 each time he was with a girl and the woman would, allegedly, give the girls R20 each for their silence.

A younger brother of one of the girls became jealous when he was not allowed into the farmer’s car and complained to his mother about it.

The mother investigated why her daughter was in the car and it emerged that the children were allegedly being trafficked for sexual purposes.

The Stutterheim Regional Court was packed yesterday as Social Development MEC Nancy Sihlwayi was in the gallery with community members, relatives, and members of the ANC Women’s League.

Prosecuting advocate Nomawethu Mvume read 28 charges into the record.

The farmer’s attorney, Neil Ristow told magistrate Ignatius Kitching that his client would plead guilty to all the charges.

The woman’s attorney, Siyabulela Ntushelo, said she too would plead guilty to all of the charges she was facing.

Before court proceedings started, hundreds of people, including Sihlwayi, marched to the court against human trafficking and sexual abuse of women and children.

The suspects are in custody and the trial resumes today.