- A 33-year-old man was found guilty of raping his 13-year-old daughter in July 2020.
- The Mount Fletcher Regional Court sentenced the man to life in prison.
- He claimed his daughter had lied about the incident because he refused to buy her a new cellphone.
A 33-year-old man from the Eastern Cape has been sentenced to life in prison for raping his 13-year-old daughter.
The man, who cannot be named to protect the identity of the victim, was sentenced by the Mount Fletcher Regional Court on Friday.
According to a statement by the National Prosecuting Authority, on the morning of 26 July last year, the man asked his daughter to walk with him to town from their home in Skote Village, about five kilometres from Mount Fletcher.
"At a secluded area on their way to town, the father instructed the daughter to sit. She refused because there was frost," NPA spokesperson Luxolo Tyali said.
"The father forced the petrified victim to undress and raped her. When he was done, they proceeded, and he indeed bought her clothes in town."
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The victim reported the incident to her paternal aunt, who ensured that the matter was reported to the police.
During the trial, the aunt testified that when the girl returned from the trip with her father, she had bloodshot eyes and was not her usual bubbly self, Tyali said.
The father pleaded not guilty, claiming his daughter lied because he had refused to buy her a new cellphone.
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"However, under cross-examination by state prosecutor advocate Bongeka Honono, the father constantly changed his version, and could not explain why his own sister would implicate him in the crime."
The man was sentenced to life in prison after the court agreed with the State that there were no substantial and compelling circumstances justifying a deviation from the prescribed minimum sentence. It also found that the rapist did not show any remorse.
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