The man (names withheld to protect the underage girl) was found guilty of having had sexual intercourse with his brother’s daughter for two years whilst she was schooling at a Junior Secondary School in the city. The young student was only 15-years-old at the time the abuse was discovered. Having impregnated his niece, however, it was identified in the particulars of the offence that, “the convict between March 1 and 31, 2020, at or near place withheld, unlawfully had carnal knowledge of one Baone Modi (not actual name), a girl under the age of 18 years old.”
Passing sentence on Thursday, Magistrate Tshepo Thedi cautioned that rape and defilement cases are on the rise in the country. The Magistrate cited: “We are experiencing a surge in cases of violence against children, especially sexual violence. Stepfathers, brothers and cousins are the leading perpetrators of child defilement and molestation. Like in this instance, where the convict is related to the victim, the convict is the elder brother to the victim’s father.” According to the court record, the sexual abuse which spanned a little over a year, resulted in pregnancy and “all this [sexual abuse] transpired when the victim was doing Form 2 to Form 3".
According to the law, such offences carry a minimum of 10 years imprisonment to a maximum term of life imprisonment. However, when passing the sentence, Magistrate Thedi noted that the present case had exceptional extenuating circumstances which rendered the imposition of a lesser penalty. “I consider that this is one of the rare cases where there are exceptional circumstances which make it inappropriate for this court to impose the mandatory minimum sentence as prescribed for this offence of the convict,” Thedi said.
Explaining those circumstances, the Magistrate in her sentence cited that the victim is still a student and therefore unemployed. The victim and the convict have a child together and the convict had been taking care of and supporting both. “It must be stressed and emphasised that this is a very serious offence. That save for exceptional circumstances to this case, the convict would have been a candidate for the statutory minimum sentence prescribed by this offence.”
