Man gets life for raping 9-year-old whose gran ‘threatened to kill her’ if she reported it

Bhisho High Court has sentenced a 47-year-old man to life imprisonment for the repeated rape of a nine-year-old girl.

The court also ordered Siyanda Madlebe’s name to be included in the National Register of Sex Offenders. The child was his girlfriend’s granddaughter.

Luxolo Tyali, spokesman for the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) Eastern Cape, said Madlebe and the victim’s grandmother lived together in Gxulu, Keiskammahoek, in 2018 and 2019.< /p>

“Her living arrangement was that the victim slept in the kitchen while her grandma and Madlebe slept in the bedroom.

“During the night Madlebe came into the kitchen, undressed the victim and raped her She. He covered her mouth with his hand to keep her from screaming and threatened to kill her if she reported the rape,” Tyali said.

The sexual assaults continued until the girl was her Grandmother told about it. However, she did not believe the child and admonished him.

“The grandmother even threatened to kill the victim with a knife if she continued to ‘tell lies about her boyfriend’. Even after the girl told her friend, the grandmother refused to believe her.”

Madlebe was only arrested after the victim told her mother, after she moved out of her grandmother’s house in 2021 was.

Madlebe pleaded not guilty.

Barry Madolo, Chief of the Eastern Cape Prosecutor’s Office, welcomed the verdict and commended the prosecutor, Attorney Nocwaka Blorweni-Tokota, and investigating officer Sgt .Candy Gala for her diligent collection and presentation of evidence.

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