Last week, the Pinetown Regional court convicted and sentenced a 21-year-old uncle to 21 years imprisonment for raping his six-year-old niece. On 27 May 2016, the victim was at her home in Hammarsdale sleeping when her uncle came to her room, undressed and raped her. He thereafter instructed the victim not to inform anyone and promised to buy her sweets. When the victim was bathing her mother noticed that she was bleeding and took her to the clinic where it was confirmed that she was repeatedly raped. The matter was reported to Hammarsdale SAPS and the docket was transferred to Pinetown FCS for further investigation. The accused was arrested and made several court appearances before he was convicted and sentenced.
In another incident a father was sentenced to ten years imprisonment by the Pinetown Regional Court for raping his 19-year-old daughter. On 11 June 2014, at about 6pm, the victim went to meet with her father who was going to take her to his place of residence as she wanted to visit him. They then proceeded to KwaNyuswa where he resides. On their arrival in the house her father insisted that he wanted to have sex with her. When she refused he forced himself on her and repeatedly rape her. She informed her grandmother and a case was opened at Hillcrest police station. The docket was transferred to Pinetown FCS for further investigation and the accused was then arrested for rape. He made several court appearances the Pinetown Regional Court convicted until he was convicted.
The KwaZulu-Natal Acting Provincial Commissioner, Major General Bheki Langa commended the Pinetown FCS for dedication shown during investigation which took only nine months to finalise the case. “We hope the sentence will send a strong message to other criminals who abuse children and women instead of protecting them,” he said.