Spokesperson for the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) in the North West, Henry Mamothame, says the unnamed man, who was previously convicted of a sexual offence in 2008 and released out on parole in 2016, was denied bail by the Klerksdorp Magistrate’s Court on Monday. 

The 12-year-old victim was living with the accused in Jouberton when the alleged rape incidents took place, the first of which occurred on 31 May 2021. Mamothame says this living arrangement came to be after the young girl’s mother passed away and she had to start living with the convict, who was her next-of-kin.

Mamothame says the accused’s case has been postponed to 23 August 2021 for further investigations. He remains in jail till then.

Last month Police Minister Bheki Cele revealed during the release of the quarterly crime statistics for January to March 2021 that of the sampled 6 893 rape incidents, over 4 000 took place at the home of the victim or the home of the alleged rapist. Rape makes up the vast majority of the sexual offence cases reported. The minister maintains that police are clamping down on the scourge of gender-based violence.
 
This incident in the North West comes after lobby group, AfriForum, pressured Free State police into re-investigating the alleged 2019 sexual assault of a five-year-old minor in Reitz in the Eastern Free State. The lobby group’s campaign manager, Jacques Broodryk, previously told OFM News, that an exasperated relative of the then five-year-old victim approached them in October 2019 seeking their assistance after the Director of Public Prosecutions in the Free State (DPP) decided not to prosecute the alleged perpetrator.

AfriForum’s private prosecution unit probed the matter, finding that the pertinent statements of several witnesses were not taken by the police, when the case was initially opened. The case was thereafter reopened by police, and it was subsequently discovered that the suspect was linked to other sexual offences in the area. The unnamed suspect has since been charged with two counts of sexual assault and one of rape.
 
Broodryk criticises the initial inaction by authorities on the case.  “We as South Africans have become accustomed to being let down by the police service. We know that gender-based violence is a major problem in this country. We know that ordinary citizens aren’t protected and we often hear of cases where people’s complaints are not handled the way they should be. 

"But it’s especially shocking when it comes to a five-year-old child who was sexually assaulted and the police did not do a proper investigation.” Broodryk stresses that these mishaps by law enforcement agencies should not be tolerated.

 
OFM News