The South African Police Service's (SAPS) Provincial Commissioner of North West, Lieutenant General Sello Kwena welcomed two sentences that were recently handed down for two separate Gender-Based Violence (GBV) related cases. In the first case reported in March 2010, a social worker alerted the police about the well-being of three children, who were in the care of their parents.
The latter initially stayed in Pretoria but relocated to Zeerust. The children were taken for forensic assessments and it was determined that they were all raped over a period between July 1, 2009 and October 1, 2009. The three children - a seven-year-old boy, an eight-year-old girl and a 13-year-old girl, who lives with disability, were all sexually assaulted.
The trio who are now 21, 22 and 27 years of age, respectively, are all siblings. They court found that they were all raped by their then 41-year-old father, who may not be named to protect the identity of the three victims. The father, who is now 61 years old, was sentenced on November 15, in the Rustenburg Regional Court. He was after found guilty on six counts of rape and sentenced to an effective imprisonment of 75 years.
The three siblings have found justice after 14 years of being sexually assualted by someone in a position of trust - their father. The court ordered that the personal particulars of the offender be included in the National Register for Sex Offenders in terms of Section 50(2) of the Criminal Law (Sexual Offences Matters) Amendment Act, 2007 (Act No. 32 of 2007).
Although he is going to spend the rest of his life behind bars, the accused was further declared unfit to possess a firearm in terms of Section 103(1) of the Firearms Control Act, 2000 (Act No. 60 of 2000). Meanwhile, in the second case reported in the early hours of Wednesday morning, July 19, 2017, in Sondela, close to Boitekong, a nine-year-old girl reported to her aunt that her stepfather sexually abused her when he was under the influence of liquor.
Evidence heard in court indicated that the stepfather would wait until his wife went to work, then he would strike on the minor. The aunt immediately reported the matter to the police in Boitekong. A medical examination confirmed that the victim was raped and the suspect was traced by the police and immediately arrested. The accused, aged 44, was found guilty by the Rustenburg Regional Court on November 14, and sentenced to 30 years imprisonment.
In terms of Section 103 of the Firearm Control Act, 2000 (Act No. 60 of 2000), he was declared unfit to possess a firearm. In addition, the court ordered that the personal particulars of the offender must be included in the National Register for Sex Offenders by Section 50(2) of the Criminal Law (Sexual Offences Matters) Amendment Act, 2007 (Act No. 32 of 2007).
The Provincial Commissioner, Lieutenant General Kwena applauded the Investigating Officers, Captain Karen Pretorius and Warrant Officer Cynthia Monchusi of Lehurutshe and Rustenburg Family Violence, Child Protection and Sexual Offences (FCS) Units respectively, as well as all other role players including prosecution for their excellent collaborative efforts in bringing the perpetrators to book. He said this will send a stern warning that GBV offenders will be dealt with effectively by the authorities.
