A paedophile father has been sentenced to three life terms in jail for the repeated rape of his young daughter in J2 Section in Richards Bay, KwaZulu-Natal police said on Tuesday.
The 36-year-old man was sentenced in the Richards Bay Regional Court for raping his daughter on three different occasions in 2014 when she was only five years old.
Lieutenant Colonel Thulani Zwane said the victim had been with a childminder at her mother's home when the father had arrived.
He had taken the child away from the childminder and raped her, according to Zwane.
"Neighbours who heard the screams of the child went to investigate and found the accused raping the child. The neighbours managed to rescue the child from the accused," he said in a statement.
Zwane said the father was immediately arrested and a case of rape was opened with the Esikhaleni police and assigned to the Empangeni Family Violence, Child Protection and Sexual Offences Unit for investigation.
The father was detained for the duration of the trial, he said.
"Police investigations revealed that the victim had been raped on three different occasions. The accused was effectively sentenced to three terms of life imprisonment," Zwane said.
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