Mbabane – Mtsetseleli Mjomane Shongwe,34, of Motshane was arrested and charged for allegedly having repeated sexual intercourse with his 9-year-old daughter for a period of at least two years.
The charge sheet reveals that he’s been charged with contravening the Sexual Offences and Domestic Violence Act (SODV) Act of 2018 section 3(3)(c), section 3(4)(c) as read with section 3(9)(a) of the SODV act of 15/2018.
More evidence showed that the incident occurred while the minor was under the father’s and family custody while the mother faced family challenges of her own in her mother’s house.
Suspicions of abuse were first picked up by the minor’s aunt in June 2023. Documented evidence showed that she noticed something amiss and raised concerns thinking that the minor might have been sexually assaulted by one of her cousins. The matter was reported, and the child was taken to hospital where a doctor confirmed sexual activity. A case was then opened.
Two weeks later, the minor disclosed gory details – most of which cannot be repeated – that implicated her father. She told the police in her mother’s presence that she’s been sexually violated by her father.
The minor said repeatedly, her father would force himself on her at home, sometimes while her grandmother was in the kitchen and her brother at school.
Every time when he finished, he would tell her that she must not tell anyone, or he would be arrested, and she would not have a place to stay, and she believed him because her mother had no stable place at that time.
In one account, the father is said to have found her with her cousin and, assuming they had been intimate, took her into another room where he also had sexual intercourse with her.
Shongwe was allegedly instructing the minor to shift blame to her cousin. Police investigations followed, and the father was later apprehended.
When confronted by the mother during a visit at the police custody he admitted to having raped the minor reason being revenge on the mother and to hurt her because she rejected to reconcile as a family when he requested her.
The matter was taken up by the local school as investigations mounted, leading to the arrest. After hearing the minor, the school’s principal called the domestic violence police to report the case.
The Principal Magistrate Fikile Nhlabatsi adjourned the matter and Mtsetseleli Shongwe is to be remanded in custody until the 9th of September for continuation of the matter.
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