A 70-year-old rapist was sentenced to life in prison for the rape of a 14-year-old girl in Bethulie, Free State.
On October 1, 2023, at around 2pm, the girl was at home in Newstands, Bethulie, when the 70-year-old family friend arrived, asking for her mother, who was away working.
South African Police Service (SAPS) spokesperson Sergeant Mahlomola Kareli said while purportedly waiting for the mother, the elderly man asked the child to make him tea.
She obliged, and after drinking the tea, he urged the victim to sit on his lap, but she declined.
“He took out a knife, threatened her and took her to the bedroom where he raped her,” Kareli said.
When the victim’s mother came home late from work, she told her mother about the incident, and the mother accompanied the girl to Bethulie police station where a complaint of rape was opened and investigated.
Detective Warrant Officer Paballo Ntoahae of the Trompsburg Family Violence, Child Protection, and Sexual Offences Unit took up the case, and the perpetrator was arrested.
Working with the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA), Prosecutor Leon Ehlers sentenced the man to life in prison for raping the child.
In a similar case, an 82-year-old man, also from the Free State, raped an eight-year-old girl.
Provincial spokesperson, Sergeant Sinah Mpakane said that in July 2024, during a school meeting with children and parents, one of the parents told a teacher that the victim had told other children that she routinely went to the older man’s residence, where he repeatedly raped her.
