A 17-year-old girl with the mental age of an 8-year-old had been raped at least four times in the past four years, the Grahamstown High Court heard this week, as it convicted a 42-year-old man from Bathurst of the most recent attack on the teenager.
A 17-year-old girl with the mental age of an 8-year-old had been raped at least four times in the past four years, the Grahamstown High Court heard this week, as it convicted a 42-year-old man from Bathurst of the most recent attack on the teenager.
In earlier testimony, the court heard that the girl was spending the night at the home of her grandparents in Nolukhanyo Township, Bathurst, last December. Her grandfather had invited a colleague, Wandile Ndleleni, to drink honey beer with him.
Because it was late and he was afraid of being mugged, Ndleleni had decided to stay the night. According to the evidence, everyone in the house went to sleep. During the night, Ndleleni had got up, gone to where the girl was sleeping on a mattress and raped her.
The girl's grandfather said she had woken him up, saying, "Grandfather, what this is man doing to me?" He told the court he'd seen Ndleleni standing on the mattress where the girl was lying, pulling up his trousers.
"I grabbed a stick under my bed and asked him what he was doing. He did not answer me. Instead, he unbolted the door and ran away," said the grandfather. The next morning the girl told her mother what had happened and she called the police.
It was the fourth time clinical psychologist Karen Andrews, called to testify about the girl's mental state, had seen her. Since the first time she'd examined her, in 2007, her behaviour had been consistent, Andrews told the court on Monday, explaining that she had the mental age of an 8-year-old child.
“She is not capable of lying, because she does not have the mental capacity to lie. She is not capable of making something up,” explained Andrews.
On Tuesday, the girl gave her evidence through a closed circuit television and was assisted by an intermediary. She was given two dolls to demonstrate to the court how she had been raped. Ndleleni denied raping the girl. He said he had slept in the house on the night of the incident, and woken up the next morning to finish the honey-beer left over from the night before.
"I never heard any screams during the night," explained Ndleleni. When defence counsel, Deon Geldenhuys questioned during closing arguments on Tuesday why the matter had not been reported to the police the same night, it was Judge Elna Revelas herself who responded, pointing out that these were people with few resources.
“The incident took place during the night, and they decided to deal with it the following morning,” said Revelas. Geldenhuys also claimed there were contradictions in evidence. “The grandfather testified that his younger brother was asleep when the incident took place, but the complainant testified that he was sitting on his bed,” he argued.
State prosecutor Nickie Turner said, “There was no reason why her grandfather would falsely implicate the accused, as he was his friend and they worked together.” The court also heard that this was the fourth time the girl had been raped in a period of four years.
In 2007, Mlandeli Mvandaba was sentenced to 25 years for raping her and in 2008, Lunga Tata was sentenced to life in prison for the same crime. In the same year (2008), Mcebisi Dyantyi was also sentenced to life in prison for raping her. Sentencing has been postponed.
