Activists have expressed outrage after a 44-year-old man was sentenced to four life terms for raping and carrying out sexual acts on some his 14 children, impregnating one of them.
The man who cannot be identified in order to protect his victims, was sentenced at the Gauteng High Court yesterday and made a full confession after first denying the allegations.
In a shocking twist, the father had apologised to his victims inside court claiming he knew he was not a good father and apologised “from the bottom of my heart”.
He said he needed to get professional help to be a better person, claiming he had found God and had read the Bible at least five times since his arrest.
A doctor’s testimony revealed that his victims had shown signs of being sexually abused.
In addition to the four life terms, he was slapped with 73 years in jail.
He was convicted of 15 charges ranging from rape to statutory rape, sexual grooming and using a child to produce pornography.
Two of his victims were his biological children while some were step-children or children of the women he had lived with over the years.
The man was arrested after he was caught raping one of his daughters.
Judge Papi Mosopa said the father was a liar who had caused danger to the physical and mental well-being of his victims, including the community.
Inside court the man had come face to face with some of his children who were emotional. He claimed he was planning on reconciling with them.
The State proved that he had carried out the sexual acts on some of children and step-children between the ages of nine and 14 years.
In shocking evidence revealed in court, it transpired that he had made his daughter, 13 at the time, his girlfriend. He impregnated her when she was 15.
At the time of his arrest in 2020, she had given birth to three of his children.
One of the charges related to statutory rape where he had used his 13-year-old child to be his girlfriend while she had been with him from 2017.
During the testimony of the doctor, it was revealed that the victim’s private parts had shown sexual activity.
Siya Monakali, of IIitha Labantu, which has advocated for the rights of women and children for over 34 years, said they welcomed the sentence imposed.
“Far too often cases of this nature go undetected and justice is never served,” he said.
“We strongly appeal to social service providers to provide psychosocial support to the victims of this injustice to alleviate the psychological trauma endured by the victims.”
Ian Cameron, of Action Society, who fights against corruption and abuse said they were disgusted by the man’s actions and that it would leave a permanent scar on his victims.
“We do not think that four life sentences can ever be enough for what he has done to those children.
“People need to understand that the long-term effects of that kind of trauma, is absolutely devastating. In many cases, children that go through this kind of abuse never really recover if they do not have the right emotional and psychological support, which is needed to build a future and success in their adult lives.”
The Gauteng matter comes soon after the Weekend Argus published the harrowing tale of a Cape Town father who was criminally charged for raping his daughter for 24 years.
The Atlantis woman told the harrowing tale of sexual grooming, repeated rape and sexual assault at the hands of her 63-year-old father.
He was hauled before the court and is facing charges of rape, sexual assault, sexual grooming and indecent assault. The former taxi and truck driver was granted R1 000 bail by the Atlantis Magistrate’s Court in February.
The sexual abuse took place from the time the victim was 12 years old in 1997 until 2023. “He made me think it was okay because he was my father and, as I grew older, I kept to myself and didn’t speak much and I began to switch off and I accepted this secret all to myself for all the years,” the woman said.
Atlantis Woman’s Movement founder and owner of House of Healing shelter and former ward councillor, Barbara Rass, has come out in support of the woman.
“We are asking why he was granted bail when he has such severe charges? A psychiatrist needs to come on board to support this woman because she has been emotionally damaged after all the years of abuse.”