Man who raped his niece (12), loses appeal

A VIOLENT AND HEINOUS CRIME

- NADIA KHAN [e-mail]

A KWAZULU-NATAL man has lost his appeal to have his conviction and sentence for the rape and sexual assault of his niece, overturned.

The man, who was sentenced to 10 years for rape and five years for sexual assault, appealed the ruling in the Pietermaritzburg High Court.

According to the court papers, the incidents started in 2013 when the man’s niece was 12 years old. She was 21 years old when she testified during the trial in 2022.

The man was convicted and sentenced in Durban Regional Court on October 18 in 2023. The sentences were ordered to run consecutively.

According to the court papers, the girl’s brother had participated in a sport activity and her parents had accompanied him to Johannesburg in March 2013.

The girl stayed with her father’s relatives where her uncle also lived.

According to court papers, on the night in question, the girl was watching television in the lounge with the man and his sister.

After the man’s sister went to sleep, he pulled his niece by her hand from the lounge to the kitchen.

According to the court papers, he began kissing and fondling her.

“There was nothing said by either of them during this incident, and the complainant (girl) thereafter went to sleep. She did not tell anyone about the incident because she was scared and did not know what to do,” it read.

According to the court papers, the following day the girl was due to attend her friend’s party in the afternoon in Durban.

A prior arrangement had been made by her father for her uncle to transport her to the party.

Along the way, while the man was driving, he instructed the girl to take off her pants. She did not do so. When they reached a stop street, the man reached over from his driver's seat and forcibly pulled down her pants.

“He proceeded to place his hand on top of her underwear and eventually inside her underwear,” it read.