Picture: African News Agency (ANA) Archives
A 31-year-old man appeared briefly in the Brits Magistrate's Court on Monday on charges of raping his one-month-old baby.
National Prosecuting Authority spokesperson in Gauteng division, Lumka Mahanjana, said the case was postponed to November 3 for an interpreter.
The Malawian national was arrested on September 19 for allegedly raping his biological one-month-old infant at Krokodildrift West, outside Brits in the North West.
The mother of the baby reportedly left her sleeping next to the father in the room and went to prepare food outside. While outside, she heard the cries of the baby.
"When she rushed to the room to check what was happening, it was alleged that she found both the father and the baby naked, with the private part of the baby bleeding," said Mahanjana.
The mother screamed for help, neighbours came, and the child was taken to hospital for medical examination and was subsequently admitted. The Moral Regeneration Movement (MRM) in the North West described the rape of a month-old girl as a shocking, despicable, and atrocious act.
“Such an unwarranted attack on a defenceless child at the hands of a father who was supposed to love and protect her points to the extent to which moral decay has permeated our society. We shudder to imagine the physical, psychological, and lifelong trauma that the victim robbed of her innocence had to endure,” said Pastor Lesiba Kgwele, convenor of the MRM Provincial Interim Committee.
Kgwele called for justice for the infant, stating that courts should restore confidence in the criminal justice system before communities, which were fed up with such deplorable acts, take matters into their own hands.
IOL