Cape Town: The Pietermaritzburg Regional Court has sentenced a 22-year-old woman for trafficking her then eight-year-old niece in the Caluza area in October 2017.
The court also convicted the aunt on charges of rape and kidnapping.
The aunt cannot be named to protect the child’s identity as she is a minor.
According to evidence before the court, the woman visited her paternal home and took the child without anyone’s consent. She lured the child by promising her ice cream.
Two unknown men transported them to a house in East Street where the aunt met another unidentified man and they took the child to the bedroom.
The court heard that the man raped the child twice after her aunt left. Upon her return, she took the child to an informal settlement where she washed her genitalia.
The two were found the following day by a relative.
Once the girl returned home, she told the family what had happened. She was taken to the Edendale Thuthuzela Care Centre where she received psychosocial services, counselling and support.
Police immediately launched an investigation and her aunt was arrested two days later.
During the trial, advocate Samokelisiwe Hlongwane argued for a life sentence.
The court was also handed a victim impact statement from the child.
The child said that her intention was to look after herself and be a virgin until she was grown up. That dream would never be fulfilled.
She said she was overcome with fear when her aunt kidnapped her. She thought she would die and never see her family again.
The court deviated from a life sentence due to the age of the aunt, who was 18 years old at the time, she was a first time offender and had been in custody for more than four years awaiting trial.
The provincial spokesperson for the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA), Natasha Ramkisson-Kara, said the court felt that there was a possibility that the aunt could be rehabilitated.
“She was sentenced to five years imprisonment for kidnapping, 20 years imprisonment for rape and 20 years imprisonment for trafficking in persons. The sentences will run concurrently, hence the effective 20 years imprisonment,” Ramkisson-Kara said.
She said the sentence was a success for the NPA as trafficking in persons was a priority area for its organisation and a reality in South Africa.
“The facts of this matter demonstrate that trafficking does not only take place over international borders, it can be the simple, yet devastating, movement of a person out of their familiar surroundings. We congratulate the prosecution and investigation teams for working together to ensure the finalisation of this matter,” Ramkisson-Karra said.
robin.francke@inl.co.za
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