The National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) said it welcomed the four life prison terms given to a 20- year- old KwaZulu Natal man for raping four young boys.
On Friday, the Pietermaritzburg Regional court sentenced the man whose identity was not revealed to protect the victims who are between the ages of four and eight after he pleaded guilty to the crimes committed in May 2021 in the Imbali area.
According to the NPA one of the victims was the man’s stepbrother.
NPA spokesperson Natasha Ramkisson Kara said in his plea, the man mentioned that he had been suffering from depression following his break-up with his girlfriend and initially considered suicide but decided to rape the boys instead.
The man told the court that on the day of the incident, the young boys were playing outside his house when he called them individually into his room and raped them.
Ramkisson Kara further said the stepbrother reported his half brother’s actions to his mother who then told the father who later approached the parents of the other boys and the families went to the Edendale Thuthuzela Care Centre for tests that confirmed the rape.
Accordingly the boys received counseling as well as holistic medico-legal assistance. The perpetrator was then arrested by the local police, the NPA said in a statement.
He was remanded in custody after a few court appearances and pleaded guilty to the crime before trial.
In aggravation of sentence, Regional Court Prosecutor Yashania Manickum told the court that the man’s actions proved that he is a danger to society, and at such a young and impressionable age, the boys have learnt to distrust elders because of the actions of the accused.
Manickum also submitted a Victim Impact Statement (VIS) compiled by one of the children and facilitated by Court Preparation Officer, Thobekile Babongile Chuene. In his statement the boy said that he does not understand why the man had raped him. He said that he wished for the court to punish him so that he will not do this to anyone else.
During the sentencing, the court declared that the man was unfit to possess a firearm and ordered that his name be entered in the National Register for Sex Offenders.