KZN man gets 23 year sentence for raping a minor

A 65-year-old man has been sentenced to 23 years in prison by the Ntuzuma Regional Court in KwaZulu-Natal for sexually assaulting a girl over a period of time and raping her on one occasion.

The accused was the manager of the building where the girl and her family lived. The court heard that the incidents took place after the man called the girl into his office under the pretense of giving her sweets.

National Prosecuting Authority spokesperson Natasha Ramkisson-Kara says the girl’s mother saw the child leaving the man’s office in October 2020 and asked her what she was doing there.

“During sentencing proceedings, the man was sentenced to 15 years imprisonment for rape and 8 years imprisonment for sexual assault all taken as one for the purpose of sentencing. The court deviated from the minimum sentence of life imprisonment for rape, saying that the man is elderly. However, the court ruled that the sentences run consecutively, thus resulting in an effective sentence of 23 years imprisonment”.

Meanwhile, a man has been sentenced to life imprisonment following the gang rape of a nearly blind elderly woman at Ntuzuma north of Durban. The Ntuzuma Regional Court found Dalithemba Khewa was one of a number of armed attackers who kicked down the door of the 78-year-old victim in 2018. The court heard that the attackers took R130 and groceries after raping the elderly woman.

Ramkisson-Kara says Khewa was linked to the rape through DNA.

“The woman was unable to identify them as she is visually impaired. However, DNA samples collected from her home, led to Khewa’s arrest in February 2020. The court ruled that his details must be entered into National Register for Sex Offenders, thus rendering him unsuitable to work with children and older persons. He was also declared unfit to possess a firearm”.

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