The High Court in Polokwane has convicted a 39-year-old Limpopo father on multiple charges including rape, sexual exploitation, and assault with intent to cause grievous bodily harm on his two little children.
The convicted rapist’s name is withheld to protect the identity of the abused girls.
The father was convicted alongside his co-accused, his 36-year-old friend. The father’s friend was was convicted on two counts of rape.
Another accused man in the case, 68-year-old Diedrick Schannes Roux died by suicide. The National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) in Limpopo said Roux allegedly shot himself shortly before trial commenced.
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Responding to a query from IOL, Limpopo spokesperson for the NPA, Mashudu Malabi-Dzhangi said the three men owned farms around the Letsitele area.
“The victims identified as XT and TX were minor girls aged nine and 11 years old at the time of the incident. Currently, the girls are aged 11 and 13 respectively,” said Malabi-Dzhangi.
“The names of the accused persons and their farm names are concealed in order to protect the minor girls.”
During trial, the accused men pleaded not guilty to the charges except the two charges of assault with intent to cause grievous harm. The State then called six witnesses including the molested children XT and TX.
The two minor girls testified in camera.
“They told the court that their biological parents are divorced, and the mother left them with their father. Around 2022, in Letsitele, their remedial teacher gave them homework to write her a letter about what made them happy or sad. This exercise ultimately exposed the brutal abuse they were subjected to at their home,” said Malabi-Dzhangi.
The minor girls disclosed to the teacher how they were assaulted and sexually abused by their own father and his friends.
“Some days they were raped by Zimbabwean men who were employed by the father at the farm, after he failed to pay them their salaries. The Zimbabwean men are still at large,” said Malabi-Dzhangi.
“In other incidents, the victims used to visit the accused three (Roux’s) family at their farm and they would swim together with the accused men’s three children. On those occasions, the accused man would join XT and TX with other children.
“He would then suggest that TX goes to the deep side of the dam. The accused number three would then forcefully take her to the deep side and rape her. On another day, he would take XT to the same spot and rape her,” according to the NPA.
The State also led evidence of a forensic social worker, a forensic nurse, who examined the two victims and a J88 report was also handed to the court.
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“During the trial, XT and TX testified that their father forced them to watch while he was laying on top of his lover, doing ‘silly things’,” said Malabi-Dzhangi.
After their conviction, the two men mitigated their sentences, arguing that the children were brainwashed and that is why they were implicating them.