By Jonk wa Mashamba
news@alexreporter.co.za

The Pretoria Regional Court has sentenced Christopher Bapela (25), from Mamelodi, to 20 years direct imprisonment each for two counts of rape of two boys, aged 8 and 10 years old.

The magistrate also ordered that the sentences should run concurrently and that the families of the victims be notified should Bapela be considered for parole.

According to NPA spokesperson, Lumka Mahanjana, between December 2016 and February 2017, when Bapela was 18 years old, he raped the two minor boys more than once.

Mahanjana said the victims stayed in the same street as Bapela and would usually play close to his yard.

She said Bapela would then lure the minors to his house by giving them his cellphone to play games.

“While in his house he would undress and rape them. On other occasions, he would send them to a nearby tuck-shop to buy stuff and upon their return, he would rape them.

“This incident came to light after an aunt of one of the boys heard his friends playing and teasing him about the incidents. When she confronted the minor, he disclosed and told her about the other boy as well.

“Bapela was then arrested when the mother of one of the boys reported the matter to the police. In court, he pleaded not guilty to the charges and denied sexually assaulting the children.

“During sentencing proceedings, he asked the court, through his legal representative, to deviate from imposing the prescribed minimum sentence,” said Mahanjana.

However, the prosecutor, Advocate Don Sithole, told the court that Bapela stayed in the same street as the victims, he was known to them and their families and he was supposed to protect them.

Sithole argued that, instead, Bapela decided to betray that trust in the worst possible way, by taking the victims’ innocence and exposing them to sexual activities at a tender age.

Sithole also read into the record in court the victim impact statement prepared by social workers, that the minor boys were so emotionally and psychologically affected by the incident, such that one of the boys repeated grades at school and is now running a risk of being expelled at school because of his age.

Therefore, he asked the court to impose a sentence of life imprisonment.

However, Magistrate Lesego Makolomakwe in her sentencing, said she found that there were substantial and compelling circumstances justifying the deviation from such a prescribed minimum sentence; amongst which was that Bapela was described by his family as a slow learner and that at the time of the incident he was still young, therefore the sentence given was appropriate.

“While the NPA would have preferred a minimum sentence of life imprisonment to be handed down, the prosecution accepts that the sentence handed down is a competent one and hopes that Bapela will benefit from rehabilitation programmes while incarcerated,” Mahanjana said.