JOHANNESBURG - A scholar transport driver from Mamelodi in Pretoria was sentenced to life imprisonment for raping a nine-year-old child.
The Pretoria Regional Court found that the 41-year-old man was guilty of the rape, saying he exploited the vulnerability of an unsuspecting child.
National Prosecuting Authority (NPA)spokesperson Lumka Mahanjana said the heinous crime dates back to June 2021.
In a statement on Tuesday, Mahanjana detailed how the man invited both the victim and her seven-year-old brother to his home for a visit.
This was after he had dropped off the victim’s brother at home after school.
The children heeded the request and told their mother that they were going to play outside, only for them to journey to the scholar driver's home, the statement read.
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According to Mahanjana, when the two arrived at the man’s residence, he gave the seven-year-old boy money to buy tea bags from a nearby shop.
“When the victim insisted on accompanying her brother, [the driver] instructed her to remain behind. After the boy left, he locked the door, undressed himself and the child, and raped her,” she said.
Mahanjana said the scholar transport driver stopped the ordeal when the victim's brother returned and proceeded to threaten to kill the victim’s mother if they disclosed the ordeal.
“Before they left, he gave the children R4 to buy chicken heads,” she said.
The child only confessed about the heinous crime to her mother a month later.
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The man pleaded not guilty and denied committing the offence.
However, Mahanjana said the court found no substantial and compelling circumstances justifying a deviation from the prescribed minimum sentence and concluded that a life sentence was appropriate.