Mbabane: In a very rare occurrence, a 45 years old man of Nkamazi, in the Hhohho region has been found guilty of raping his own biological daughters.
The accused appeared before Principal Magistrate Joe Gumedze facing 20 counts of rape, and he was found guilty on 17 counts. Gumedze sentence the accused to 15 years in jail in each of the 17 counts, which made a total of 255 years.
The accused person is said to have raped his underage daughters from 2007 up to 2018.
It is said that the first rape ordeal started in 2007 when he raped his daughter who was eight years at that time. This means that the rape offences took place over 11 years. The offences are said to have taken place mainly in Malkerns, Siphofaneni, and Nkamanzi but this was said to have continued when Jerry moved to other areas
The accused is said to have adopted the ‘no sex no school’ rule with his daughters. When they were not living with him, he would not send money directly to them for school but would demand that they visit him so that he could give it to them physically. However, when they arrived to collect school fees, he would rape them.
The courts heard that the two minor girls were forced into having sex with the accused because they were made to believe that their school fees will not be paid if they refused.
Handing down the sentence, principal Magistrate Gumedze said the court has considered the personal interest of the accused and that of the society.
He said society wants offenders to be given a harsh sentence to send a warning message to others.
The court also learned that the accused person’s father was also serving years in jail for attempted rape of the same complainants which happened to be his granddaughters.
Records show that Jerry’s father and his brother are also serving sentences related to rape. His father was convicted of attempting to rape his granddaughter while his brother was convicted of rape. They were tried separately by the same Principal Magistrate Joe Gumedze who is now retired.
The accused father is said to have attempted to rape his two granddaughters aged 13 and 18 on different occasions
He is said to have removed the underwear of his granddaughter aged 13 in 2018 and attempted to rape her.
Not only that in the same month he did the same to another granddaughter aged 16 by removing her underwear then attempting to rape her. He is further said to have touched the private parts of his granddaughter.
Speaking to the Eswatini Observer, Swaziland Action Group against abuse (SWAGAA) executive director said the sentence sends a strong message to other would-be offenders and it shows that the Sexual Offenses and Domestic Violence Act (SODV) is really implemented.
Dlamini said the sentence is one of the rare sentences in the country where one would be handed such a huge sentence.
She said as an organization they are welcoming sentences and were looking forward to seeing other cases of such nature being given the seriousness they deserve.
She said such people do not deserve to live with society. “the fact that the accused raped his biological daughters shows that he was not only a danger to his family but also to the society he lives in,” said Dlamini
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