Justice has been served

THE JOHANNESBURG Regional Court has restored our faith in the justice system in the battle against rape and women and child abuse. On Tuesday, the court sent a monster father, who raped and impregnated his own daughter, to jail for life. The message was clear: There is no place in our society for men of his ilk, who prey on innocent children they should be protecting.

But while the 16 year-old’s life will never be the same as she raises her biological father’s baby, the sentence shows that when law enforcement agencies do their work properly and build solid cases, the courts can play an important role in making sure there is justice for victims of rape and child abuse.

The 47-year-old man tried all he could to evade justice, including disputing results of conclusive DNA tests which placed him squarely at the scene of the horrendous crime.

We couldn’t have put it better than State prosecutor Patrick Morris who noted: “This is the worst kind of abuse. The father, who should protect his child, raped her, impregnated her and then the final insult – attempted to make her a liar in a court of law.”

We are glad the court nailed this excuse of a father who had, over as period of time in 2013, raped the girl and been involved in sexual grooming. He was also charged for displaying child pornography.

Women and child rights groups have hailed the sentence, saying it sent a clear message to perpetrators that they would be caught and sent away for a long time.

We applaud the National Prosecuting Authority and the investigating officers who worked tirelessly to make sure the monster was behind bars. We hope to see the same results in other cases.

Sadly, the 16-year-old’s life has been wrecked and she might not have a normal mother-daughter relationship with her child. She might also hate men. She might never have a normal life again, her innocence ripped away by her father.

When women and child abuse is a daily occurrence in our communities, the Johannesburg Regional Court has given us hope that the fight against these crimes is not lost.