Man jailed for life for raping stepdaughter

Shortly after being paroled for his hand in his girlfriend’s murder, an Oyster Bay man raped and impregnated her then 11-year-old daughter.

Yesterday, the 43-year-old was sentenced to life behind bars by Gqeberha high court judge Michelle Beneke for his “complete disregard for the child” who considered him a stepfather.

Beneke found that the man, who was convicted last month, showed no remorse for his actions and throughout the trial attempted to convince the court that the child, whom he had begun raping when she was 10, was the instigator in the sexual encounters.

“When a child’s powerlessness is abused by a father figure that child no longer has a carefree childhood,” she said.

She had been raped numerous times between the ages of 10 and 11.

The rapes and sexual assaults ended when it became apparent that she was pregnant.

She later gave birth, at the age of 11, to a baby girl.

“The shock and confusion the child must have suffered and still is, is truly distressing,” Beneke said.

“Children should be children.

“This is a national scourge that shames us as a nation.

“Society is appalled with a father having sex with a 10 year old.”

Beneke said she could find no substantial or compelling circumstances to deviate from the prescribed minimum sentence of life.

A social worker’s victim impact report revealed that the young girl was so traumatised by the birth of her daughter that she could not name her and the birth had a “monumental impact” on the girl’s family.

According to Beneke, though the man and girl were not biologically related, the man’s actions were tantamount to incest as he had been a loving and caring father figure to the girl even after he was convicted and sentenced to life for his role in her mother’s death.

The man had been in a relationship with the girl’s mother when she was about three years old.

He was arrested and charged with the mother’s murder in December 2012 after she died from injuries allegedly sustained during a drunken brawl between the two.

Before he was convicted and sentenced to 10 years on a charge of culpable homicide, the child lived with him.

She then went to live with her biological father.

In her testimony, the child said that during the time she lived with the man he had never touched her inappropriately or hurt her, it was only after he was paroled in January 2020.

Beneke found his previous incarceration was not a deterrence or that he had been rehabilitated.

He had served just over five years of his 10-year sentenced before he was paroled.

The girl had told social workers that she bore no ill towards him, something Beneke said was concerning as she was too young to appreciate the significance of the harm that had befallen her.

It was found that the man had first started sexually assaulting the girl in April 2020, four days before her 11th birthday, at his home on a farm near Oyster Bay.

In his testimony, the man said he knew what he had done was wrong after the first rape incident and knew his actions were illegal.

In her judgment, Beneke said it could not reasonably possibly be true that the girl, who regarded the man as her stepfather, could see him as an object of sexual desire.

After his conviction and sentence, Beneke ordered that the man’s name be entered into the national register of sex offenders and that he be barred from interacting with children in any capacity.