- Victim raped by both her father and brother
Maun Chief Magistrate Thebeetsile Mulalu will today (August 04th) deliver judgement in a case in which a 12-year-old girl was allegedly raped by both her father and brother at Tsau village in 2020.
The 46-year-old father who is also a traditional doctor is alleged to have repeatedly raped the victim on various occasions while her 14-year-old brother allegedly raped her once. The brother’s case is currently being handled by social workers and other relevant stakeholders for reasons that he is still a minor, while the complainant has been given refugee at a children’s home.
The accused father who pleaded not guilty to the charge is alleged to have raped the victim on various occasions for a period of two years at their home in Tsau. It is alleged that on the night of August 21, 2020 the accused person sexually abused his daughter while she was asleep. It also surfaced that the following morning the victim’s 14-year-old brother also allegedly raped her before she went to school.
According to details revealed in court, the matter was reported to the police by the victim’s teacher and Safety Health officer on August 22, 2020. This reportedly followed the doctor’s establishment at Tsau clinic that the victim had a Sexual Transmitted Infection (STD) which she seemed to have had for a while.
The Investigating Officer (IO) Detective Sergeant Onalethata Mothapisi previously told court that before the incident was reported they were already investigating another matter in which the same victim was treated for STIs after she was allegedly raped by another suspect.
Motlhapisi revealed that when interrogating the victim about the previous rape case it surfaced that she was forced to lie about the perpetrator, and it later became apparent that he had actually raped the victim.
According to the IO, the alleged suspect when questioned claimed innocence and indicated that he suspects the victim’s father to be the one who abused the victim.
The accused person has however argued that her daughter was once raped, hence him and her mother only met the police during investigations of the matter and later met the IO on the day of his arrest, adding that he did not know what he had done to be arrested.
The accused person who previously pleaded to be given a chance to engage an attorney fearing the case might jeopardise his liberty despite him being innocent has since made yet another u-turn giving state a go ahead to continue as he had failed to present his attorney on the two previous court appearances. The accused traditional doctor is currently out on bail.
