22 years aunt gets imprisoned for trafficking 8 years old niece
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The NPA has welcomed and appreciated the sentencing of a 22 years old woman from Caluza area near Pietermaritzburg for trafficking her niece.
The incident is said to have occurred in October 2017 when the convicted woman visited her paternal home and took the child who at the time was 8 years old away without anyone knowing, promising to buy her ice-cream.
This is according to NPA Spokesperson Natasha Kara who also said that the two were transported by two unknown men to a house in East Street where the woman met another man and they took the child into the bedroom.
The man then raped the child twice and then the aunt returned and took the child away to an informal settlement where she washed her private parts.
“They were found by a family member the following day and the child was taken back home where she gave the family an account of what happened.”
“The chils was taken to the Edendale Thuthuzela Care Centre, where she received the necessary psycho-social services, counselling and support. Immediate investigations led to the swift arrest of the aunt two days later.”
Hearing the victim impact statement read by Court Preparation Officer Nonhle Cemane, the victim said that something precious and more valuable in her life was taken away by someone she trusted with everything and never thought would do anything evil to her.
In the statement the child said that her intention was to look after herself and be a virgin until she was grown up, that dream will never be fulfilled. Also, she was very scared when her aunt kidnapped her and she thought that she would be killed and never see her family again.
“The court deviated from life imprisonment due to the age of the woman (she was 18 years at the time of the offence), she was a first offender, she had been in custody for more than four years (while awaiting trial), and the court felt that there was a possibility that she could be rehabilitated.”
Kara added that the convicted was sentenced to five years imprisonment for kidnapping, 20 years imprisonment for rape and 20 years imprisonment for trafficking in persons.
