Pretoria - A man who had to obtain courage from drinking alcohol before he could have sex with a woman told the court that it was unfair to sentence him to life imprisonment for raping his 14-year-old sister.
The rapist, only identified as MP by the Limpopo High Court sitting in Polokwane to protect the identity of his sister, told the court that he was shy and not able to approach women if he was not drunk.
The court was also told that on the night of the incident, he “actually forgot that the woman he was raping was in fact his teen sister”.
To make matters worse, while his rape trial regarding the teenager was heard in the Modimolle Regional Court in 2015, he faced another rape charge, this time for raping his cousin.
He was sentenced to seven years imprisonment for the rape of his cousin.
Later in the same year, he was sentenced to life imprisonment for his sister’s rape.
The judge at the time remarked that he should be removed from society as he posed a danger to the female members of his family.
While MP pleaded guilty to the rape of his teenage sister, he felt that he did not deserve life imprisonment.
He turned to the high court in Polokwane to appeal his sentence, saying he pleaded guilty to the rape.
He said he climbed into the complainant’s bed, closed her mouth with his hands and ordered her to undress, before raping her.
After the conviction, the probation officer compiled a pre-sentence report in which the rapist told her, he had self-confidence issues.
He said he was shy and had trouble expressing himself to women.
He used alcohol to gain courage.
According to him, he “got sexual urges” when he looked at his sister and on the day of the incident he “saw an opportunity and used it”.
He said he was not thinking straight because he was drunk and forgot she was his sister.
In terms of the victim impact report, the teenager had flashbacks of the incident. She said it affected her psychologically and she developed learning problems at school.
She no longer trusted men.
Her grandmother, who takes care of her, said the teenager was moody, short tempered and defensive.
She said the family of the complainant was deeply affected and disappointed by what the man did to his sister.
The rapist, when pleading for a lesser sentence, said apart from him not being comfortable to ask women for sex, the court must also consider the fact that he grew up without a mother and dropped out of school due to financial reasons.
The court, however, turned down his appeal and said he deserved the life sentence.
“The appellant’s bad character and his behaviour is that of a person who will not be rehabilitated…
“He should be protecting his close relatives as they put trust in him, but instead he is preying on them.
“The appellant is therefore a danger to his close relatives and the society at large,” the court said.
Pretoria News