A 23-year-old man convicted of raping an elderly woman was sent to jail for 18 years by the Grahamstown High Court on Thursday.
Judge Andre Erasmus, who sat with two assessors, told Sicelo Tyatyeka, of Lingelihle, Cradock, that he would have imposed a life sentence had the victim suffered more serious injuries.
Erasmus found Tyatyeka guilty on Wednesday of raping the 55-year-old woman on July 28 last year at Lingelihle.
The trial court heard Tyatyeka had accosted the woman as she walked to a spaza shop, assaulted her with a broken bottle and then dragged her into a deserted house and raped her.
One of the central features of the trial was the fact that a police officer who responded to a call for assistance by a member of the public had caught the accused in the act of raping the woman.
Erasmus said any mitigating circumstances on behalf of the accused were considerably diminished by his previous convictions and long criminal record.
”It seems to me that despite the relative youthfulness of the accused, a clear pattern has emerged and he is well on his way to becoming a hardened and habitual criminal.
”His arrogance and lack of shame or embarrassment can only be described as astounding. When he was caught in the act of raping the woman, he told the policeman to go away and leave him alone.”
Erasmus said the courts will show no mercy to those who rape women and children.
He said the injuries suffered by the woman fell just short of those that would have justified the imposition of a life sentence. — Sapa