- A KwaZulu-Natal man has been jailed for life for raping a teen.
- He posed as a traditional healer and claimed he would cure the girl of her illness.
- But he held the girl for several hours and raped her twice.
A KwaZulu-Natal man has been sentenced to life imprisonment for rape after he posed as a traditional healer and raped a 17-year-old girl twice in April last year.
According to KwaZulu-Natal National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) spokesperson Natasha Ramkisson-Kara, the man befriended the girl's mother and pretended to be a traditional healer.
"From his frequent visits to them, he realised that the girl often got sick and would be taken to hospital. He [told] the mother that he [could] heal the girl with his traditional medicine so she [would not need to] go to the hospital. Her mother agreed to the proposal," Ramkisson-Kara added.
He fetched the girl from her home and told the mother that he would take her to a river for a cleansing ritual, and then have a prayer meeting with the other congregants.
Ramkisson-Kara added:
The girl received medical and psycho-social assistance at the Madadeni Thuthuzela Care Centre.
In court, prosecutor Scelo Simphiwe Hlela called the girl, her mother, her sister, and a doctor to testify.
"In her statement, the girl said that the incident left her traumatised and embarrassed with psychological scars. She said that she had been a virgin and that was her pride as a young girl," Ramkisson-Kara added.