Court Convicts Man For Raping Daughter

A 46-year-old traditional doctor of Tsau village has been found guilty of raping his 12-year-old daughter in August 21 2020. The girl is also alleged to have been raped by her brother the morning of that fateful day after being raped by her father the previous night.

The accused person 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 being handled by social workers and relevant stakeholders for reasons that he is still a minor, while the complainant has been given refugee at a children’s home.

Delivering judgement, Maun Chief Magistrate Thebeetsile Mulalu said he took into consideration the accused person’s defence that his confession was forced out of him, however he noted that the defence does not have any impact on the case.

Mulalu indicated that he finds the complainant as a credible witness who was consistent with her statement during cross examination adding that she did not have any motive to incriminate her biological father.

“After the complainant was examined by a nurse, she was referred to a doctor who discovered that the complainant’s hymen was abnormal which he (doctor) explained that it suggests multiple sexual penetrations, which corroborates with her statement that it was not the first time her father raped her,” Mulalu said.

Mulalu further highlighted that the nurse who examined the complainant noted that the complainant had a foul smell and scratches on her genitals during examination after the complainant was taken to the hospital by the school health assistant.

The father who pleaded not guilty to the charges is alleged to have raped the victim on various occasions for a period of two years at their home in Tsau. It is is alleged that on the night of the 21st August 2020, the accused person sexually abused his daughter while she was asleep.

Details of the case that were presented in court are that 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 sexually transmitted infection(STI) which she seemed to have had for a while.

During trail the Investigating Officer (IO) Onalethata Mothapisi previously told court that before the incident was reported they were already investigating another matter in which the same victim 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 her.

The accused person however argued that his 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 traditional doctor who has been out on bail has since had his bail revoked pending sentencing. He will appear on October 4th for mitigation and sentencing.