Father sentenced for sexual crimes against own children

THE North Gauteng High Court, Pretoria, has sentenced a 42-year-old father from Meyerton, Vereeniging, to four life terms and 73 years of direct imprisonment for sexual crimes committed against five minor children aged 9, 10, 11, 12 and 13 from 2019 to November 2020. Two of the minors are his biological children. The court also ordered that his name be added to the National Register for Sexual Offenders.

National NPA regional spokesperson, Lumka Mahanjana, said this was after Judge Masopa convicted him of two counts of statutory rape, two counts of rape, two counts of sexual grooming, two counts of instructing a child to commit sexual offences, incest, possession of pornography, and sexual assault.

Mahanjana said that at the time of the incidents, the man was in a relationship with the mothers of the children aged 10 and 11.

“However, when his 11 and 12-year-old daughters visited him, he would rape them, and besides raping the 12-year-old, he would take pictures of her private parts and ask her to send him similar pictures via WhatsApp when she was not with him.

“The 13-year-old minor, whom he also sexually violated, was said to be his girlfriend at the time of the incidents and later fell pregnant and had his child when she was 16-years-old. He was stopped when she caught him raping his 12-year-old daughter, and she reported the matter to the police, and he was arrested on November 17, 2020, and has been in custody since.”

Mahanjana said that in mitigation of his sentence, the father read a statement and asked the court to impose a sentence of 25 years because he was now a changed man and had found God in prison.

“However, in aggravation, the State prosecutor, advocate Salome Scheepers, told the court that crimes of gender-based violence were prevalent in the country. The man was a father and a stepfather to his victims, and he was in a position of trust but betrayed that trust.

“He furthermore displayed no remorse, no regret and therefore no hope of rehabilitation. Therefore, she asked the court to impose a sentence of life imprisonment. Judge Masopa agreed with the State that the man showed no remorse and therefore found no circumstances to deviate from the prescribed minimum sentence.