Age saves rapist
2008-08-19 20:28
Cape Town - Age saved a father, on Tuesday, from a life sentence for twice raping his own teenage daughter.
Cape High Court Judge Rodger Cleaver said the fact that the man would be 80 on his release from prison if life imprisonment were imposed, justified a less severe sentence. He said life imprisonment was extremely severe, and had to be reserved for extreme cases.
Cleaver instead jailed the 60-year-old for 15 years. An aggravating factor was that the girl had fallen pregnant after the second rape, forcing her as a child under the age of 16, to have to make adult decisions for the benefit of her baby.
The judge said the girl had had the courage to testify in court about her ordeal, between January and September 2006.
He said she had expressed understandable bitterness towards her father, and had in fact asked the court that he never be released from prison.
Judge Cleaver said the father and mother had enjoyed a good relationship, with the mother unaware of what was going on.
The judge added: "Even when the girl informed her mother about what was happening, the mother would not believe her".
It was only when the girl became pregnant that her mother finally believed her.
Judge Cleaver said Parliament had ordained a minimum sentence of life imprisonment for the rape of a child under the age of 16.
He said the courts had been urged to apply the minimum sentences consistently, and not to deviate and pass less severe sentences for flimsy reasons.
He said a court could only deviate from a prescribed sentence if the sentence was unjust and too harsh in the circumstances.
- SAPA