FREE STATE - MAN GETS LIFE SENTENCE FOR RAPING 9 YEAR OLD NIECE

A Free State man was sentenced to life in prison for raping his 9-year-old niece, police said on Friday.

The man was handed a life sentence for rape and three years for house breaking in the Botshabelo Magistrate's Court on Wednesday, while the girl’s mother was sentenced to five months in prison for child neglect.

Police spokesperson Constable Peter Kareli said the man raped the girl on October 10, 2014 at about 23:00.

The girl was sleeping with her six-year-old brother. They were alone in the house while their mother went out on a drinking spree, Kareli said.

He said their uncle broke in and went straight to the fridge and made food.

After he had helped himself to the food, he went to the bedroom, took an electric cable and tied the boy’s hands before forcefully raping his niece, Kareli said.  

"The children managed to get themselves to sleep... and the mother only arrived in the early hours of the morning, drunk."

The girl was later rushed to hospital after she told her aunt that her uncle had raped her. The man was arrested at a local tavern in Botshabelo.

"Investigation revealed that the 9-year-old girl is always left to look after her [brother] while their mother went for a night out."

The mother was arrested and charged with child neglect. The two children were placed in a safe home.

VIA - news24.com