A 42-year-old Dunoon man has been sentenced to life imprisonment for raping a 7-year-old child, a relative, and infecting her with HIV.
The man is expected to appear in the Cape Town Regional Court on November 6, for also raping his brother’s 9-year-old daughter while he was on house arrest pending the rape trial of the 7-year-old.
The Cape Town Regional Court this week convicted the accused on a charge of rape and attempted murder after he transmitted HIV to his 7-year-old victim, knowing he was HIV positive.
The State is not naming the accused to protect the identity of the victims.
The National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) said that during the trial, sexual offences prosecutor Ruwayda Badrudeen told the court that the man raped the then 7-year-old in 2016 while she lay on the couch watching TV.
She did not tell anyone about what happened, as he was her uncle.
A few weeks later, she was taken to a local clinic as she was not feeling well.
A medical examination found that she had sexually transmitted diseases, with an initial HIV test coming back negative.
The doctor requested that she be brought back a few weeks later for further tests, and the second HIV test came back positive.
NPA Western Cape spokesperson Eric Ntabazalila said the investigating officer, Sergeant Luvuyo Goya, of the Family Violence, Child Protection and Sexual Offences Unit in Milnerton, tried to get her to reveal what had happened.
One morning, he took the victim’s grandmother to her school and the victim went to Goya’s vehicle.
“She was again asked what happened and she revealed that the accused raped her.
“He was arrested on September 7, 2016, and charged with rape.
“There was no DNA as the incident was reported after the 72-hour window period and therefore no exhibits could be obtained.
“The accused’s initial version, to his attorney, was that he was gay and therefore could not have raped the child.
“He subsequently indicated that if the State could prove that the HIV strain that the child contracted was the same as he had, he would plead guilty.”
Ntabazalila said Badrudeen was put into contact with a forensic virologist at Groote Schuur Hospital who analysed three viral loads of blood, and the rest were sent to Tygerberg Hospital for analysis.
“The results took a while to finalise but came back positive.
“The accused brought a bail application and was released on house arrest and went to live with his brother,” said Ntabazalila.
Cape Times