Niece rapist jailed 15 years

Mashudu Netsianda Senior Court Reporter
A LUPANE man was yesterday sentenced to an effective 15 years in jail for raping his 12-year-old niece for the whole night after detaining her in his hut.

Lawrence Ncube, 24, of Dundubala village was convicted of two counts of rape by regional magistrate Abednico Ndebele.

He was sentenced to 18 years in jail, but three years were suspended for five years on condition that he does not within that period commit a similar crime.

Ndebele, in his judgment, condemned the frequency of rape cases involving minors and called for stiffer sentences.

“The crime of rape is serious and prevalent and what’s even more worrying is that in most cases the perpetrators are relatives of the victims. The courts therefore have to send a clear message to society by passing harsh sentences to the offenders,” said Ndebele.

“Rapists expose their victims to opportunistic infections and psychological trauma and in this case Lawrence didn’t use a condom. The courts have an obligation to protect the victims by sending offenders to jail for a lengthy period.”

Prosecuting, Concilia Ncube said on May 29 this year shortly after 7PM, the victim and her six year-old sister were sent to their aunt’s homestead by their grandmother.

“When the two minors arrived at their aunt’s place they started playing with other children until late prompting their grandmother to follow them,” said the prosecutor.

The court heard that when the victim’s grandmother arrived, the two girls had already left their aunt’s home using a different route.

On arrival home, the two girls found their uncle home and he invited them to his bedroom hut where he ordered them to sleep after lying to them that their grandmother wanted to assault them for coming home late.

“Out of fear of being assaulted by their grandmother, the two minors complied with their uncle’s orders,” said Ncube.

When their grandmother arrived home, Lawrence woke up from his bed and rushed to her and lied to her that her granddaughters had decided to sleep at their aunt’s place.

The court heard that Ncube went back to his room where he raped the victim once before threatening to assault her if she reported the matter.