Mbabane – A 46-year-old man of Dlangeni, Simon Ndzingane who is accused of sexually grooming his daughter for a period of over 10 years from the age of six, denies the rape charge.
Ndzingane is kept in custody facing a charge of contravening section 3(1), 3(2), 3(3) c, 3(6) e, as read with 3(9) of the Sexual Offences and Domestic Violence (SODV) Act of 2018 in that he allegedly repeatedly raping his biological daughter from the time she was six to seven years old until she was 16.
Appearing for trial on Tuesday, before the Mbabane Principal Magistrate Fikile Nhlabatsi, he was remanded to Sidwashini Correctional facility until October 5, pending judgment.
He maintained a not guilty plea, prompting the prosecution to call-in several witnesses, including the minor whose details are concealed for ethical reasons, a medical doctor, his wife, Busisiwe Ndzingane and Simon’s brother, Jabulani Ndiphethe Ndzingane.
Jabulani said his knowledge of Simon’s affairs was scanty. He said he did not know why he was called to testify because he was not privy to the details surrounding the charge.
When being cross-examined by Simon, about an incident where people allegedly confronted him over a child who was not his in the community, Jabulani denied knowledge of it. He also denied knowing anything about a man named Dokotela Ndzingane, who was said to have confronted Simon during a preschool graduation, claiming Simon’s wife had given birth to his [Dokotela] child. Jabulani insisted that he did not attend such events.
He only confirmed to the court that his brother Simon had once been admitted to a psychiatric centre due to mental health issues and was known in the family for unpredictable behavior, which they often ignored.
The Crown submitted that the sexual abuse did happen, and that the accused violated his daughter on several occasions, proof of this being the minor’s testimony that her father had sex with her at least twice. The minor said one of the incidents occurred when they were at home and another when they were walking to the spaza shop.
The medical doctor said evidence of the minor being sexually active from as early as six years old was overwhelming.
Busisiwe, the accused’s wife, told the court that she discovered the abuse while disciplining the child. She said when she confronted her husband, he told her to calm down, saying in vernacular, “angikamdzabuli umntfwana” (did not tear her virginity).
The accused’s elder son, Siboniso, also testified saying he once caught his father having sex with the minor but feared reporting it to his mother.
The prosecution said the accused threatened his daughter, submitting to the court that she was still a minor and could not legally consent to sexual intercourse.
Simon said the survivor, his daughter, lied about the abuse to avoid her mother’s punishment. He said when the child was six years old, she lived with her great-grandmother while he was in Mbabane with his wife where he worked, and that the grandmother never noticed anything wrong with the minor.
He also argued that his wife never saw signs of abuse when bathing the child at that
age, and that child is not physically disturbed, to prove that she was raped at an early age.
Simon further claimed that his son Siboniso fabricated the allegations because of a past misunderstanding where Simon threatened to chase him from the home for being a member of a gang.
He also accused his wife of being reluctant to retire and move to the village to care for the children, saying this was the reason she turned against him. The accused added that though he stayed with his children born out of wedlock, they returned to stay with their mother in Ntondozi.
In his closing submissions, Jabulane argued there was no medical evidence linking him to the offence since no blood test was conducted. He further alleged that he confessed to the crime only because police officers assaulted him heavily during questioning.
Judgment is expected to be delivered on October 30, 2025.
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