A 32-year-old father from Olievenhoutbosch was found guilty of rape and attempted murder of his 11-month-old daughter. The National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) stated that the father and mother were in a love relationship when a neighbor asked the mother to help her cook. The mother left the baby under the father's guardianship, and the next day, she found the baby lying on her chest with her back raised. As she changed her diaper, she noticed that the baby's private parts were swollen and there was semen on the diaper.
The mother notified the father that their baby had been raped and they should take her to a clinic. The father suggested they take the baby to a traditional healer who advised them to seek medical assistance. When they returned home, the man threatened the mother with a knife and ordered her not to take the child to the clinic as it would attract attention from the community.
The mother then traveled to Limpopo, pretending to be visiting her other child, but instead took the baby to a clinic in Venda. At the clinic, she was told to return to Pretoria and report the case. After arriving back in Pretoria on May 4, 2023, she reported the case to the police and later that day, the father was arrested at his place of residence.
In court, the man pleaded not guilty to all charges and gave a plea explanation stating that he had inserted his thumb in the baby's private part while bathing her to remove soil particles from her playing outside. However, the prosecutor, advocate Vongani Khosa, argued that the father indeed sexually penetrated his baby because semen was visible.
The court agreed with the State and rejected the man's version because it was not consistent with the presence of semen. The case has been postponed to March 6 for sentence proceedings. Police Minister Bheki Cele released the third-quarter crime statistics spanning October 1 to December 31, 2023, expressing concern that most gender-based violence and femicide (GBVF) cases had occurred in the residences of the victims.
