Raped girl�s mother gives evidence

Lebogang Mosikare | Thursday February 2, 2017 15:08

 

The case follows a similar one in which a 42-year-old BDF corporal who was also based at the Area S military garrison was sentenced to 20 years in jail after he was convicted of raping his stepdaughter in 2014. Principal Magistrate Dumisane Basupi sent the solider to jail in January.

In the current matter, the state alleges that the accused, who cannot be named for legal reasons, raped the daughter of his live-in girlfriend once in Mogoditshane and twice in Francistown between 2013 and 2014.

The child’s mother told the court in her evidence-in-chief that in February 11, 2016, she received a phone call from her daughter’s Guidance and Counselling teacher telling her that she wanted to see her in connection with something relating to her child.

“When I arrived at the school (name withheld), the teacher told me that my daughter had told her that my boyfriend has been sexually abusing my daughter. The case was later reported to the police. I know my daughter as a truthful child who is open to tell me anything…at one point she told me that she was not going to Mogoditshane because other children in Mogoditshane were abusing her,” said the child’s mother when asked by prosecutor Chimbisani Sechele.

The complainant’s mother added that she was not shocked that her daughter did not tell her about the rape allegations because “every child has her own secrets”.

When cross-examined by the accused’s attorney Kagiso Jane, the child’s mother said her daughter was raised by her late mother for the better part of her childhood years and is of good character.

She stated that although she did not stay with her daughter, she knows her as a person who is open and short tempered.

“Just like other children, she sometimes used to steal little amounts of money to buy sweets and other things that children like but would never steal more than P5. My child came to Francistown in 2011 when she was nine-years-old. I did not want her to know her biological father but some relatives ended up telling her that my boyfriend (the accused) was not her biological father,” said the complainant’s mother.

“Conflicts developed between me and my relatives after they told my daughter who her biological father was. My daughter also grew up calling my current boyfriend her father,” the complainant’s mother added.

The case continues.