Dad blames muthi for rape

2009-09-09 20:48

Eric Mashaba

Malalane - An Mpumalanga man who will spend the next 15 years behind bars for raping his 15-year-old daughter said he did it because his wife bewitched him with muthi.

The man, from Boschfontein near Malalane, was arrested by police in January after assaulting and raping his daughter in bushes near their home while they were collecting firewood.

"She told me her father had raped her. I immediately took her to the police to report the incident," the girl's mother told the Nelspruit regional court on Wednesday.

Saw it in a dream

She testified that she had warned her husband not to take their daughter to the bushes as she had had a dream that something bad would happen.

The father admitted raping his daughter but blamed his wife's muthi for the crime.

He claimed she didn't love him anymore and had conspired with their children to get rid of him.

"I admit having had sex with my daughter, but it didn't happen in the veld.

"It happened in my wife's hut where she asked me to sleep because she wanted to perform a ritual in our bedroom," he testified.

Name added to sex pest database

He said the night before the rape was reported, he thought he was making love to his wife.

He only realised it was his daughter when he switched on the light to go to the toilet.

Magistrate Albertus le Roux rejected the man's claims.

"After evaluating all the evidence with my two assessors, we regard your muthi story as a lie," said Le Roux.

The man was sentenced to 15 years in jail and his name will be added to the national database of sexual offenders.   

- African Eye