Life terms for man who raped his ex-girlfriend's four-year-old and left her for dead on a shack roof

The Johannesburg High Court has sentenced a 28-year-old man to three life terms for raping a four-year-old girl and attempting to murder her, the South African Police Service said in a media statement from the office of the Gauteng provincial commissioner.

The sentence was handed down on 15 October 2026. The man was convicted on two counts of rape, each carrying life imprisonment, and on one count of attempted murder, also life imprisonment. He was sentenced to six months’ imprisonment on a fourth count, contravention of Section 49(1)(a) of Act 13 of 2002, and was declared unfit to possess a firearm.

The case began on 7 September 2026, when the child’s mother found her on top of a shack with a cut-throat wound. She was rushed to hospital, where it was established that she had also been raped.

Detectives from the Honeydew Family Violence, Child Protection and Sexual Offences unit investigated the case and arrested the suspect, identified in the statement as the mother’s ex-boyfriend.

Provincial Commissioner Lieutenant General Thommy Mthombeni applauded the investigating officer for securing the conviction, saying justice had been served.

The statement is a police summary of the case and the sentencing, not the court record itself. Enquiries on the matter are directed to Lieutenant Colonel Isaac Mudau on 071 608 5490.

Source: South African Police Service (SAPS), https://www.saps.gov.za/newsroom/msspeechdetail.php?nid=72032