An East London businessman who raped his 12-year-old stepdaughter as her mother slept in the bedroom nearby was sentenced yesterday to 20 years imprisonment.The mother, however, wants him to serve time out of prison as she told the court she misses him.
The East London Magistrate’s Court heard the interracial couple shared a flat in Amalinda. Between 2015 and 2016 the child would visit her mother during school holidays and would sleep in the lounge.
The 61-year-old was arrested in February last year when the mother stumbled upon a cellphone picture of his erect penis being held by her daughter.
She recognised the hand as her daughter’s because of a birthmark near her thumb. The woman was checking her then fiance’s phone following a message alert when she came across the picture.
In his sentencing address yesterday state prosecutor Bonginkosi Mafa told East London regional magistrate Ignatius Kitching that the accused did not deserve “to live amongst us”.
“It is disgusting what he did. At night he would deal with the mother sexually and during the day he would deal with the child.
“He thought he could away with it because of wealth,” Mafa said.
The man’s lawyer, Neil Ristow, said the court should show mercy as the accused had developed a multi-drug resistant strain of TB.
“Both the mother and victim appear to have forgiven him. There appear not to be any side effects physically and psychologically,” Ristow said.
Said Kitching: “Had the mother not looked at your cellphone, the secret sex would have continued. You had the victim trapped in your claws.”
