A rapist from the Free State has been sentenced to life imprisonment for the rape of a four-year-old girl on Christmas day in Freedom Square.
Zakhonze Dasheka, 49, was convicted and sentenced in the Bloemfontein Sexual Offences Court.
On December 25, 2019, Dasheka who was renting a back room from the victim’s grandmother came home with new clothes and told the child he bought it for her. He invited her into the room and told her to fit on the new clothes. He then raped her.
Her grandmother, who was asleep at the time in the main house was woken by the child and told what happened to her.
The child was taken to the National Hospital for examination and the case was reported to the police. Dasheka was arrested later that day.
During court proceedings, he pleaded guilty and asked the court, through his legal representative to deviate from the minimum prescribed sentence because he ‘saved court time’ by pleading guilty.
However, State Prosecutor Advocate Ronell Botha requested the court to deny Dasheka’s request because he was aware of the overwhelming evidence against him.
“The accused is pleading guilty, not because he is remorseful but because he is aware that the state has overwhelming evidence against him, and the intention of his guilty plea is just to get a lenient sentence,” Botha submitted.
“I hereby request the court not to deviate from the minimum prescribed sentence for flimsy reasons because there are no substantial and compelling circumstances advanced by the accused justifying deviation from the minimum sentence.”
Botha presented the victim impact statement to the court and the grandmother expressed the negative impact the incident has had on the child which has resulted in her no longer playing with other children like she used to.
During sentencing, Magistrate Jan Greyvensteyn said while Dasheka may not have been a relative of the child, he was in a position of trust but instead, he betrayed the trust she had in him.
Dasheka was sentenced to life imprisonment and the court ordered his name to be included in the National Register for Sexual Offenders.
IOL