Nat Molomo

MASERU — A ‘monster’ dad.
That is how High Court judge Justice Lisebo Chaka-Makhooane described a 50-year-old man who raped and impregnated his 16-year-old daughter.
The man was slapped with a 20-year jail sentence on Wednesday.
The Sunday Express has withheld the convict’s name to protect the girl’s identity.
Delivering sentence, Justice Lisebo Chaka-Makhooane described the father as a “wolf in sheep’s skin”.
“Instead of playing a parental role, he decided to become a wolf in a sheep’s skin. He decided to become a monster instead of giving the children love,” Justice Chaka-Makhooane said.
She described the accused as “a cruel person who had unprotected sex with his daughter only to stop after the police (began investigating) the case”.
Only a pervert could behave in this way, she added.
“The victim has to live with humiliation and has to tell her baby that she was fathered by her own father,” Justice Chaka-Makhoane said.
“The accused has violated his daughter in a way that will physically and emotionally leave her with scars and traumatised.”
The court heard that the man started abusing his then 15-year-old daughter sometime in March last year when he came from a bar.
Instead of proceeding to his bedroom, the man stormed into his daughter’s bedroom where he raped her once after threatening to harm her.
The man raped the girl on several other occasions while threatening her not to tell anyone about the abuse.
As a result of the rape, the girl fell pregnant.
The court also heard that when the girl’s teachers confronted her about the pregnancy she ran away.
The man was subsequently arrested while tests conducted by doctors confirmed that she was pregnant.
An HIV test ordered by the court however came out with a negative result.
In mitigation, the man’s legal representative, Advocate Ts’oarelo Masasa, said his client had not wasted the court’s time by pleading guilty.
He also although his client had committed a heinous act he never ran away and did not try to defeat the ends of justice.
Masasa also said his client had already been in custody for 14 months.
The accused also told the judge that he was the breadwinner for his five other children.
The court however said having considered the mitigating factors raised by the defence it also needed to consider the special circumstances surrounding the case.
The judge said the court had to strike a balance between the need for justice and the heinous act he has committed against the child.
“I am sure that this abominable, dastardly and incestuous relationship between father and daughter is repugnant to all right thinking people.
“This man decided to turn his daughter into his wife, which father does this to his children?” she added.
The judge said the girl should receive some counselling to enable her to deal with her ordeal.
Asked if he understood the sentence, the man replied: “I do understand my sentence, but it is too heavy. I have already spent 14 months in custody.”
But Justice Chaka-Makhoane retorted: “It is as heavy as the crime.”
She said the sentence would be effective from the day the man was arrested.
The man was last year convicted in the Maseru Magistrate’s Court but his case was sent to the High Court for direction and sentence after he pleaded guilty.
Advocate Hlalefang Motinyane appeared for the crown.