By Luvuyo Mjekula
An Extension 6 man accused of repeatedly raping his 12-year-old stepdaughter and threatening to feed her mother and siblings rat poison if she reported what had happened to her to anyone has been denied bail.
The 46-year-old appeared for a formal bail hearing in the Grahamstown Magistrate’s Court on Tuesday.
Charged with three counts of rape, the man, who cannot be named to protect the identity of his stepdaughter, allegedly first raped her in their Extension 7 home between May and June 2020. This after he dragged her into his bedroom after she had ignored his instruction to enter the room.
The court heard that in another incident in October 2020, the accused had started to force himself on the girl at their home, but her friend had entered the house and asked to play with her.
The third incident took place in January 2021 while the girl’s mother was at work. The stepfather allegedly entered the girl’s room and raped her in her bed in the early hours of the morning, the court heard.
He allegedly then threatened to feed the girl’s mother and her younger sisters rat poison if she reported what had happened to her to anyone.
It was only on 15 January this year that the girl reported the alleged rape incidents to her mother, the court heard.
Reading from investigating officer Sanele Matwa’s sworn affidavit, state prosecutor Zimvo Mndi said the girl feared for her life and the lives of her family members after she was threatened by the accused.
Matwa had opposed bail.
The prosecutor responded to the accused man’s Legal Aid attorney, who questioned the time the girl had taken to report the matter.
Mndi asserted: “There is nothing wrong with reporting the matter four years later.” She reiterated that the girl had been frightened.
She explained to the court that the girl had seen her stepfather days before she collapsed at her home on 15 January 2024, and he had intimidated her, asking if she still kept “our secret”.
A day later, the girl reported the multiple rape incidents to her mother, who took her to the clinic and later to the nearest police station.
The accused was arrested on 16 January and has been in custody since.
On Tuesday, he was denied bail by Magistrate Xoliswa Msesiwe.
Msesiwe said although the accused had the right to be released on bail [after the court considered all the evidence presented to it], the court was also responsible for protecting the complainant.
The magistrate accepted that the state had a prima facie case against the man.
Mndi had argued: “The state does have a strong case. She knows [the accused]; they stayed together.”
She, the girl, trusted and looked at him like a father, and he should have been the one to protect her.
She argued that if he were to be released on bail, the intimidation would continue. “He knows where she stays and where she goes to school,” she argued.
After carefully considering applicable legislation and all the evidence presented to her by both the state and the defence, Msesiwe said it was in the interest of justice to refuse bail.
The case was postponed to 20 March for further investigation.
