A South African man has been sentenced to life in prison for raping and sodomising a nine-month-old baby, in what the judge has called the most gruesome crime he had ruled on yet. It has shocked a nation accustomed to violent crime.
David Potse (23) was yesterday also sentenced to another 18 years for indecent assault for the attack on the girl known as Baby Tshepang, a nickname meaning "have hope" which was bestowed on her at the hospital where she was treated after the rape in October 2001.
Judge Hennie la Kock said Potse deserved the death sentence. Capital punishment was abolished in South Africa after the advent of majority rule in 1994, but after the baby was raped in Louisvale, 900 km north-west of Cape Town, there was a public outcry for the death sentence to be brought back.
Potse was convicted after his girlfriend testified that she had seen him rape the infant. A policewoman told the court DNA samples taken from the baby had linked him to the crime.
Ms Lya Booysen cried after telling the court she had caught him raping the baby but was too scared to report it to the police.
Potse dated Baby Tshepang's mother last year and her testimony, together with that of Ms Booysen, painted a bleak picture of a small community ravished by alcohol-abuse and violence.
The 17-year-old mother, who cannot be identified, told of how she had left the child at home to go to a shop, and then went drinking with a friend instead of returning home. She said the baby's grandmother was with the child but left her alone to fetch her from the tavern and when they came back they found the child covered in blood. She said Potse assaulted her during and after their relationship.
Baby Tshepang has recovered after surgery and doctors believe she will be able to bear children when she grows up.
The rape has outraged crime-weary South Africans, but statistics show she is just one of thousands of children who suffered the same fate last year. Police figures show children are the victims in 41 per cent of all rapes and attempted rapes in South Africa, out of 20,000 officially notified each year. Fifteen per cent of rapes are committed against children under 11.
Healthcare workers believe there are many reasons for the high incidence of violence against women and children. These include a culture of violence that took root in the country during apartheid, the belief that sex with a virgin can cure AIDS, and unemployment of more than 30 per cent.