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Durban – A man who repeatedly raped a 10-year-old girl at the Ezimbokodweni Reserve in KwaMakhutha, KwaZulu-Natal, has been sentenced life imprisonment, police said.
Major Thulani Zwane said on Thursday that the Umlazi Regional Court had convicted and sentenced Macdonald Mtembeniza, 30, for raping the girl.
"The court meted out this sentence after [it]... heard how the victim had suffered at the hands of the accused.
"The nightmare started from January 2015 where Mtembeniza called the victim into his house, raped her and threatened to kill her if she told anyone. [The rapes] continued until she was questioned by an adult who noticed that she was not well.
"In April 2015, she told an adult the whole story; that the accused used to take her from her home in the absence of her parent, who was at work at the time, and raped her. The matter was taken to the KwaMakhutha police where a case of rape was opened."
Zwane said the matter was transferred to Umlazi family violence, child protection and sexual offences unit for investigation before Mtembeniza was arrested.
KwaZulu-Natal police commissioner Lieutenant General Mmamonnye Ngobeni applauded the police for thoroughly investigating the case and securing a conviction with a stiff sentence.
"We urge all the parents to take care of their children by not leaving them alone... We would like to send a promise to all sexual predators that we will do everything to put them in jail indefinitely," she said.
