Child rapist sent to prison for 20 years

A Port Elizabeth rapist whose lawyer said he had been “rather thoughtful” when he wore a condom and did not break the nine-year-old victim’s hymen, escaped a life sentence on Thursday – due to his age and lack of a previous conviction.

Ridwaan Windvogel, 23, convicted on two counts of rape and one of robbery, was sentenced to 20 years in prison by Port Elizabeth High Court judge Elna Revelas.

Windvogel, of Pellsrus in Jeffery’s Bay, had snatched a nineyear-old girl from the street while she was walking from the home of friends en route to her grandmother’s house.

Windvogel raped the young girl twice, before stealing the cellphone she was carrying.

In mitigation of sentence, Windvogel’s defence advocate, Xolile Bodlo, told the court the young victim had suffered minimal injuries.

“He was rather thoughtful – at one stage, he put on a condom,” Bodlo said.

He claimed his client had acted on the spur of the moment and there was no indication that the attack was premeditated.

He conceded Windvogel should serve a prison term, but asked for the sentence to be “blended with mercy”.

Earlier, the state prosecutor, advocate Megan September, called social worker Karen Calitz to explain the impact the attack had had on the child.

Calitz, who works at the Kwanobuhle Outreach Centre where the girl was evaluated and monitored in August, said she had suffered feelings of guilt and shame following the January 1 2018 attack.

“She feels responsible for everything that happens to her.

“[She] presents with high levels of fear coupled with vulnerability . . . she suffers from sleepless nights, and nightmares,” Calitz said.

According to Calitz, the girl had begun disassociating herself from family and friends as well as her own emotions.

“[She] sees herself as dirty and rotten and hates being a child,” Calitz said.

She recommended that the girl undergo psychotherapy to cope with what had happened, and how to deal with it.

In handing down sentence, Revelas took into consideration that Windvogel was a first-time offender and that the girl’s ordeal would not leave permanent scars.

Windvogel was sentenced to five years for robbery and 20 years for the rapes.

Revelas ruled that the sentences run concurrently and Windvogel’s name and particulars be entered in the National Sex Offenders Register.