KEY POINTS
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The rape conviction in Kagung Village shocked the entire community.
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Court gave a life sentence for raping a grandmother.
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Justice followed years of delays and a prior conviction.
A 35-year-old man was given a life sentence by the Mothibistad Regional Court for raping his 72-year-old grandmother in 2020.
Prosecutors secured rape conviction in Kagung Village after delays
Residents of Kagung Village, where the man had resided with his grandmother since he was a young boy, are shaken by the horrifying murder.
The 29-year-old guy was raped on September 12, 2020, while he was visiting his grandmother.
According to Mojalefa Senokoatsane, a spokesman for the National Prosecuting Authority, the grandmother was utilizing water from the accused’s herbal bath to take a bath in her bedroom.
He claimed that the man entered her bedroom and raped her without her knowledge or consent, motivated by what he called an intense desire.
The elderly woman, who was using a walking stick, ran away and told a neighbor, who promptly called the police to request assistance.
Shortly after, the man was taken into custody by the authorities, and the grandma was given emergency care at the Kuruman Thuthuzela Care Centre.
Senokoatsane attested that the victim received continuous assistance, particularly after the case was dropped in 2021 due to delays in DNA findings.
“Until the matter was reinstated, the TCC ensured the victim received check-ins and all necessary psychological assistance,” he continued.
Although the girl no longer menstruates, doctors confirmed that she had inside injuries and bled, demonstrating the severity of the trauma.
In the days after the horrific sexual attack, she later testified that she was in excruciating pain and found it difficult to walk.
Brutal crime and lack of remorse led to life sentence
Prosecutor Bernice Bronkhorst-Oor stated during sentencing that the defendant lacked remorse and provided false testimony during the trial.
According to Iol, judge Bronkhorst-Oor, the guy was a major danger to society and should be permanently removed from his neighborhood for the sake of public safety.
The court dismissed his account of what happened and concluded that there was no justification for lowering the minimum sentence for rape.
Additionally, authorities deemed him unsuitable to possess a handgun or perform any future work involving old people.
As required by law in cases of such criminal convictions, authorities entered his name on the National Register for Sex Offenders.
The court discovered during sentencing that the individual had been convicted of rape in 2008, when he was still a child.
For that prior offense, he was given a completely suspended sentence in 2015, which raised grave suspicions of a history of abuse.
At the time of his recent sentencing, the man was also charged with raping a friend’s girlfriend following an excursion at a tavern.
“All sexual violence cases violate victims’ dignity and privacy rights enshrined in the Constitution,” Senokoatsane told the court thereafter.
He firmly concluded by saying, “The NPA aggressively prosecutes such cases to bring justice and remove violent offenders from our streets.”
