A Joubertina man convicted this week of raping his teenage daughter read out a letter to the Grahamstown High Court, ironically declaring that he had forgiven her.
The man, who may not be named as it would identify his daughter, was yesterday sentenced to life imprisonment. He insisted his 14-year-old daughter had concocted the rape allegation against him because he was a strict father and she did not want to live with him.
In a statement he read to court while giving evidence in mitigation of sentence, the man, who is a deacon in his church, said he was falsely accused but had forgiven his daughter.
Asked if he felt any remorse, he simply said he felt sorry for the fact that his children would now grow up without him around.
The emotional 14-year-old testified how her father had raped her at knifepoint and threatened to kill her while they were alone at home one night in July last year.
She said after the rape, he had fetched a bucket of water and ordered her to wash.
When she refused, he again threatened to kill her and had run to the kitchen to fetch a stick. She had jumped out of a window and fled to a neighbour who had taken her to the police.
She suffered such emotional strain while giving evidence about the rape that the court had to be adjourned more than once to allow her to calm down.
Judge Clive Plasket found her to be a good witness. Her father on the other hand was an unimpressive witness, he said.
Medical evidence and the evidence given by her neighbour had supported her version of events, he said.
Plasket said that while rape was always a serious crime, the rape of a child by a father was particularly reprehensible. Her father had inflicted terror, physical pain and psychological harm on his own daughter.
He said the father’s persistence in his denial that he had raped his daughter, his insistence that her evidence against him was false and that he had “forgiven” her for this proved he had no remorse or insight into the seriousness of his actions and the damage it had caused her. Without remorse, rehabilitation was unlikely, said Plasket.
He said life in jail was the only appropriate sentence.
Life term for rape of daughter
The man, who may not be named as it would identify his daughter, was yesterday sentenced to life imprisonment. He insisted his 14-year-old daughter had concocted the rape allegation against him because he was a strict father and she did not want to live with him.
In a statement he read to court while giving evidence in mitigation of sentence, the man, who is a deacon in his church, said he was falsely accused but had forgiven his daughter.
Asked if he felt any remorse, he simply said he felt sorry for the fact that his children would now grow up without him around.
The emotional 14-year-old testified how her father had raped her at knifepoint and threatened to kill her while they were alone at home one night in July last year.
She said after the rape, he had fetched a bucket of water and ordered her to wash.
When she refused, he again threatened to kill her and had run to the kitchen to fetch a stick. She had jumped out of a window and fled to a neighbour who had taken her to the police.
She suffered such emotional strain while giving evidence about the rape that the court had to be adjourned more than once to allow her to calm down.
Judge Clive Plasket found her to be a good witness. Her father on the other hand was an unimpressive witness, he said.
Medical evidence and the evidence given by her neighbour had supported her version of events, he said.
Plasket said that while rape was always a serious crime, the rape of a child by a father was particularly reprehensible. Her father had inflicted terror, physical pain and psychological harm on his own daughter.
He said the father’s persistence in his denial that he had raped his daughter, his insistence that her evidence against him was false and that he had “forgiven” her for this proved he had no remorse or insight into the seriousness of his actions and the damage it had caused her. Without remorse, rehabilitation was unlikely, said Plasket.
He said life in jail was the only appropriate sentence.
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