Man 'couldn't pay prostitutes'
2007-12-13 20:43
Oris Mnisi & Thabisile Khoza
Bushbuckridge - A man has claimed to have sexually abused his small granddaughters because he could no longer afford to pay prostitutes.
He was not asked to plead to charges of indecent assault and rape when he appeared in the Mhala Magistrate's Court on Wednesday.
The 67-year-old was arrested at home in Songeni village in Bushbuckridge on December 11 after the girls, aged seven and eight, told their mother they had been abused for the past three months and given R2 to keep quiet about it.
The alleged incidents took place when their mother was working on a nearby farm and left them in their grandfather's care.
During his arrest, the man allegedly told police he was forced to sexually relieve himself with his grandchildren because he could no longer afford to pay grown women for sex on his state pension.
The girls were treated at Mapulaneng hospital and are receiving counselling.