BOTHAVILLE – A thirty-four-year-old man from Bothaville has been sentenced to life imprisonment on two counts of rape after assaulting his stepdaughter when she was a child.

The Bothaville Regional Court handed down the sentence on Friday 29 May after finding the man guilty of raping his stepdaughter in 2017 and 2018, when she was a primary school learner.

The case came to light when the man walked into the Bothaville police station and confessed to officers that he had raped someone. He led police to his home, where they found the victim, now aged 17.

During an interview, the victim confirmed that the assaults had taken place in 2017 and 2018. In the first incident in 2017, she returned home from school to find her stepfather with friends. When she went to her bedroom to change out of her school uniform, he followed her, forced her onto the bed and raped her. He then threatened to evict her and her mother from the home if she spoke out.

The abuse was repeated in 2018 when he found her alone after school. He again threatened to make her and her mother homeless if she reported the assault.

Police arrested the man and opened a case. Constable Malearongwa Mokoena from the Welkom Family Violence, Child Protection and Sexual Offences Unit investigated the case.

Working with the National Prosecuting Authority, represented by state prosecutor Mrs Lebitsa, the team secured a conviction against the accused.

The court sentenced him to life imprisonment on each of the two counts of rape.

Free State police welcomed the sentence.

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