A man accused of raping two young girls was sentenced to two life sentences on Friday at the Grahamstown High Court.
Mabuti "Skizo" Xawuka, was found guilty on two counts of rape, one of housebreaking with the intent to rape and one count of assault with the intent to cause grievous bodily harm.
A man accused of raping two young girls was sentenced to two life sentences on Friday at the Grahamstown High Court.
Mabuti "Skizo" Xawuka, was found guilty on two counts of rape, one of housebreaking with the intent to rape and one count of assault with the intent to cause grievous bodily harm.
The 29-year-old Port Alfred man raped a four-year-old girl in May 2008 and a six-year-old in June 2009.
On the night of 1 May 2008 Xawuka broke into the four-year old victim’s home in Port Alfred’s Nemato township. He kicked the door open, assaulted the girl’s father (who according to the police was asthmatic) and raped the child on the bed next to her father.
After raping the child, Xawuka stabbed her father with a knife. Despite the severity of the attack, the child’s father managed to raise the alarm and the police were notified.
Judge Bonisile Sandi said during his judgement that the girl’s mother, who was not present at the time when the crime was committed, found her lying motionless and unresponsive on the bed. He said the mother thought her child was dead. She was taken to Dora Nginza hospital where she was admitted for a week but her father died a month after the incident.
Xawuka was arrested two weeks later. However in March 2009 he was released from custody when the case was provisionally withdrawn and he returned to Nemato. But on July 14 2009 the convicted rapist struck again, this time targeting a six-year-old girl. The incident happened during the school holidays when the girl and her mother were visiting her father. The girl had no idea that by going to the shop to buy sweets she would end up being overpowered by a ruthless perpetrator.
According to the indictment, Xawuka told the girl that he would take her home. It further related that he took her by the hand and lead her to a disused house where he raped her, after which he threatened to slit her throat if she told her mother. Xawuka was arrested three days after the incident.
After the judgement, the girl’s father said: “I am happy that this is finally over. It was heartwrenching to come here and listen to what this man did to my child. I could not believe it when I was told my child had been raped. I regretted the day I decided to move to Port Alfred.”
Meanwhile Inspector Mandla Jezile, who dealt with both cases, said it had been a traumatic experience. “I thought about my own children. One never knows whether they are safe or not. They are not safe in the neighbourhood, school even at home. It’s unbearable.”
Furthermore the prosecutor in both cases, Nickie Turner said: “We have an enormous number of rape cases generally but we seem to be seeing an increasing number from Port Alfred.”
