A Pretoria mother who told her 11-year-old daughter that being raped by her stepfather was ”not so bad” as she had also been raped as a child, was sent to jail on Thursday for 17 years.
Acting Judge M P Tsoka said he would not have hesitated to sentence the 34-year-old Danville woman to life imprisonment, had it not been for the existence of substantial and compelling circumstances.
He found that her low intellect, emotional manipulation by her husband and her emotional and financial dependence on her husband were factors justifying a lesser sentence.
The judge said he regarded 20-years imprisonment as an apt sentence, but had taken into account that the mother had already spent three years and seven months in jail while awaiting trial.
He quoted at length from two Appeal Court cases on the protection of women and children, and violence within families. The mother was found guilty of being an accessory to rape because she had done nothing to protect her child, even when the child begged her to do something.
The child’s stepfather is presently serving a life term for repeatedly raping the girl.
The mother testified that she had held onto her daughter’s leg while her husband raped the child because the child was trembling. She had told the girl that it was ”not so bad and that she [the mother] had also been raped as a child”.
According to a report by a social worker, the mother had given in to her husband’s fantasies of taking the girl’s virginity after months of nagging and threats. She was emotionally and financially dependant on her husband and was scared of being left destitute when he threatened to leave her. She could also not meet his excessive sexual demands.
The report stated that the mother, who was one of eight children, grew up in poor socio-economic circumstances and went to a special school. She now had remorse about her actions. – Sapa