Ten years for raping daughter

The ten year sentence passed on a man who raped his 15 year old daughter is meant to teach prospective rapists that sexual offences are a serious crime that leaves victims with trauma for all of their lives.

Sekola Maseru of Ha Makhate in the Mohale's Hoek district will spend the 10 years behind bars without the option of a fine because this serious crime has affected his daughter physically and mentally, said magistrate 'Maliepollo Makhetha of the Mafeteng magistrate's Court.

According to evidence presented before the court, Christmas day 2003 will remain indelible in the mind of the young girl as it was on this day that her father had taken her to the nearby mountain where he raped her the whole night. It was only the intervention of the grandmother who reported the matter to the local chief that saved the girl. Men had been dispatched to the cave where they found Maseru and rescued the girl.

Maseru pleaded guilty to the charge, blaming alcohol abuse for his actions.

Angry members of the public who were interviewed after the court case said rapists should be castrated because no jail sentence could compensate for the trauma that rape brings.

15 January 2004