Cape Town – A Mozambique national was reportedly sentenced to four life terms and 21-year imprisonment for the rape of his two stepdaughters.
The 57-year-old man was sentenced at the Bronkhorstspruit Magistrate’s Court on Friday, reports said.
He was sentenced for rape, causing grievous bodily harm, and being in the country illegally.
Reports said that the man lived with the mother of the two teenagers aged 13 and 15, sexually violating them for several years before being arrested in 2020. He has been in custody since.
According to National Prosecuting Authority spokesperson, Lumka Mahanjana the man would request sexual favours from the girls when they wanted clothes, reported News24.
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“He would take them one by one to collect wood or feed chickens, then rape them,” the report quoted Mahanjana as saying.
She said that this continued for several years before the family became aware of the incident in 2019 when one of the girls asked the family if other children repaid their father with sex for clothes.
The South Africam reported that family members, including the mother, reported the stepfather to the police after they heard the horrible news during a family function.
He has remained in custody since his arrest in 2020 and pleaded not guilty to all of the charges against him.
The report added that the state prosecutor asked the court for the highest sentence, as the accused had stripped the minors of their dignity when he was meant to protect them and be their father.
“The children were psychologically impacted by the incidents; therefore, [Smith] asked the court to impose a sentence of life imprisonment,” the report quoted Mahanjana as saying.
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Picture: Facebook/ South African Police Service
