A 36-year-old stepfather from Hercules in Pretoria West has been sentenced to life for the rape of his nine-year-old stepdaughter.
The man cannot be named to protect the child’s identity. Mr X was convicted of rape on April 13 by the Pretoria magistrate’s court.
“During the service, a pastor of the church prophesied that the child had been sexually assaulted by a 33-year-old male when she was nine years old. After church on their way home, the child confessed to the mother that indeed the stepfather had been sexually assaulting her over a period of a year when the mother had gone to work at night and she was left in his care,” she said.
“The following morning both the mother and the [stepfather] took the child to a doctor at Laudium Hospital where the child was examined and it was discovered that indeed she had been sexually assaulted. After the child spoke to social workers, police were called and the 36-year-old was arrested. He has been in custody since the NPA successfully opposed bail,” she said.
Magistrate Johanna Mthimunye agreed with the state that Mr X took advantage of a child who regarded him as a father and that he deserved life imprisonment.