The SPCA and NGO Claw fought to have the case involving the sexual assault of a puppy case heard. (Getty)
When Fred Sithole arrived at the offices of Community Led Animal Welfare (Claw) in Durban Deep, Roodepoort, in November 2020 with his puppy, Moana, who had just been violently sexually assaulted by his neighbour, Claw’s founder Cora Bailey made him a promise.
“The fact that this man came here with his family and put his trust in us was very touching. I said to him: ‘I give you my word that you’ve done the right thing and we’ll get justice.’ When that process took forever, there was always that feeling that you’re letting people down,” said Bailey.
Last month, after an 18-month fight by National Council of SPCA (NSPCA) inspectors to have the case remain on the court roll, the perpetrator, Mojalesa Plaas Mofokeng, was found guilty and imprisoned for eight years by the Roodepoort magistrate’s court.
The sentence is the first of its kind imposed for animal cruelty in South Africa, with the court declaring that a distinction should not be made between the rape of an animal and that of a human. The courts, it said, have a duty to protect the rights of animal victims and impose appropriate sentences to avoid people from taking matters into their own hands.
“It’s an incredible, precedent-setting sentence,” Bailey said. “I’m incredibly grateful to the work that the NSPCA does.”
The incident
On 21 November 2020, Sithole, who lives in Dobsonville, was horrified to discover his neighbour sexually assaulting his dog. Together with community patrollers, he marched the rapist to the local police station but the officers on duty told him they could not help and turned him away.
“The thing really shocked us,” Sithole said. “You ask yourself, what on earth is this now? You go to the police station and then they confuse you further. To them, it’s just a dog. Fortunately, we managed to go to people who know more about this and they helped us.”
At Claw, Bailey responded to Sithole’s plight. She knew that bestiality is seldom a standalone sexual crime and that is closely linked to violent sexual offenders, indicating a the person has a high likelihood of being a risk to vulnerable people, particularly children.
“You won’t know the danger until somebody explains it to you, like Cora did with us,” Sithole said. “She took us seriously when we got there and she explained the possible human rape associated with this thing. That’s when it clicked in our minds that this is really serious.”
Immense risks
Bailey contacted Wendy Willson, the manager of the National Council of SPCA’s special investigations unit at the time. Willson and her colleague, inspector Connor Berning responded immediately.
Their investigation showed that 11-month-old Moana had been sexually assaulted. They contacted a sergeant at the sexual crimes unit, based in Moroka, to obtain an evidence collection kit. It was completed by a veterinarian who confirmed that there was extensive trauma to the dog’s anus, tail and neck.
Willson, Berning and Bailey worked late into the night to compile the evidence and construct the docket for submission as soon as possible, “knowing that the risk to both animals and vulnerable human individuals in the community was immense as long as this rapist was out on the streets”, according to Willson.
The team returned to the police station to open the case and lay charges against the accused so that Mabungu could effect an arrest. Willson said they went back the next day to “educate the police officers on the severity of the crime of bestiality and make them aware that individuals involved in this crime are also involved in other sexual crimes and abuses”.
Willson said she and Berning fought for 18 months for the case to stay on the court roll. “This is the first sentencing of this kind in the country and serves to highlight not only the severity of this type of sexual abuse but that it must not and will not be tolerated,” she said.
Justice has been served
For his family, justice had been served, Sithole said. “There’s a lot of ignorance. People know about these things but they don’t report them. It’s hidden under the carpet. I hope that now that he is in jail that [Mofokeng] thinks about what he has done.”
Bailey said she had dealt with numerous bestiality cases over the years. “It’s deviant behaviour. I put them in the same category as paedophiles because you’re preying on something that is vulnerable — that cannot fight or tell anyone.
“What’s been very distressing is that very often there are people in the community who will say, ‘this is really awful but at least he is not doing this to our daughters’. To me, this is a sort of helplessness where women think no matter what they do, that these things are going to happen and that trying to get justice for it, doesn’t work.
“When one links this with gender-based violence, violence to animals shouldn’t be seen as a little pocket for the SPCA or animal welfare. It should be looked at more seriously because we have an epidemic of violence, it’s everywhere.”
Rape kit and DNA backlogs
Bailey recalled how there were no rape kits available on the day.
“I know an officer from the dog unit went all the way to Pretoria to get a rape kit so that it could be done timeously,” she said. “A lot of people put in a lot of hard work and I’m grateful for that. These kind of things become the norm where people put animal cruelty in a box and say it has nothing to do with our other societal ills.”
The NSPCA said that testimony by its veterinary consultant, Dr Bryce Marock, afforded the court “irrefutable evidence” that Moana suffered as a result of the assault, and this evidence was corroborated by testimony in aggravation furnished by its inspector, Shiven Bodasing, of the special investigation unit.
“Bestiality is a serious concern in our country,” said NSPCA executive director Marcelle Meredith. “It is a shameful crime that is swept under carpets to protect perpetrators, forgetting that bestiality usually progresses to the abuse of children and eventually other adult human beings at a later stage.”
Berning said the backlog in DNA testing at the police forensics division delayed the case. “It’s kind of expected, given just the sheer number of crimes in South Africa that require DNA testing.”
He said: “The way people perceive this crime needs to change. It’s a predictor and precursor kind of crime — a lot of these people also sexually assault children, the elderly and the disabled. So, it’s more about trying to get people aware of the fact that it’s not acceptable. I don’t think people understand what massive repercussions there are for the rest of society.”
According to Willson, there are many other heroes in the case but the “greatest hero” is Sithole, who “recognised that the crime was serious and persevered in seeking justice for his little dog who recovered from her injuries and still lives happily with the Sithole family”.
To this, Sithole responded: “I still don’t know if I’m a hero but justice has been done through people like the NSPCA and Cora. Without them, if I gave up after the police station, this case would have disappeared in thin air.”
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