20 years for raping niece

2008-07-02 20:21

Grahamstown - A 36-year-old man found guilty of raping his 21-year-old mentally retarded niece was sentenced to 20 years in prison by the Grahamstown High Court on Wednesday.

"The minimum sentence of 10 years for a first rape offender is wholly inadequate to express this court's outrage at your behaviour, in which case a sentence of 20 years is appropriate," said Judge Jeremy Pickering.

He refused the man, who cannot be named, an application for leave to appeal against the conviction, saying that another court would not rule in his favour.

The man, from Clearview, Maclear, was convicted earlier this week of raping the woman at her mother's house on June 2, last year.

His bail of R200 was revoked and he was taken into custody.

The court heard that the accused had raped and attempted to strangle the woman. The incident was witnessed by an elderly man who tried to intervene, but failed to stop the assault.

Complainant 'particularly vulnerable'

During the trial, two attempts were made for the complainant to testify with the assistance of a social worker. Earlier this week Pickering said it would be a futile exercise.

"It was clear that this witness is incapable of any intelligible or coherent testimony. She is unable to distinguish between truth and lies, and has indicated to the court that the social worker in the witness room with her is a man, when it is clearly a woman. And when asked where she is, she says she is in Maclear."

Pickering said he had taken into account the personal circumstances of the accused, including his underprivileged background, low socio-economic status and minimal education.

"However, the complainant was particularly vulnerable and had the mental age of a five year-old child. Because of her mental state it is not clear how much she suffered, but she must have suffered psychologically as well as physically.

"You (the accused) have four previous convictions for assault and one of culpable homicide. It is quite clear from this unenviable list of crimes that you have no respect for the rights, or integrity of others. It is also clear that you have a disturbing propensity for violence.

- SAPA