He was just 14 years old and had his hands tied behind his back – threatened all the time with his mother six years ago and he is still tormented by the fact that he was helpless in stopping it.
“He still carries the deep guilt and helplessness that it was beyond his ability to help his mother,” read the words of the police docket during the proceedings in the Pretoria regional court. “He still relives the tremendous fear experienced during the attack from the severe beatings and torture he and his mother endured, as he waited for them to both be killed.
Simiyoni Ndlovu and Jacob Molubi were found guilty earlier on charges of theft with extenuating circumstances, kidnapping, and committing offensive sexual abuse by forcing the youngster to witness the rape. Ndlovu was also found guilty of rape, and Molubi was found guilty of possessing an illegal firearm.
On December 10, 2008 at 19:00, a group of men jumped over the wire fencing surrounding the family home in Beokenhoutkloof in Pretoria West. One of them was armed.
Once they were attacked and subdued, the teenager had his hands tied behind his back and the invaders demanded money. The mother was punched and slapped repeatedly as she was tortured to open the safe. The youngster was also beaten severely across the back with an electrical cable before they were both dragged to the young man’s bedroom, “One of the men threw my Mom on to the bed. I sat on the side of the bed, and the man showed my Mom a knife and told her to open her legs.”
“Then Ndlovu called Molubi and told him to force me to watch and to hit me if I did not watch what he was going to do to my mother. Then Molubi pointed my pellet gun at me,” said the distraught teen in his testimony.
The public prosecutor, Frans Zietsman, explained how this had destroyed the victims lives, “The trauma they suffered was so extreme that they are unable to function normally!”
“The mother has developed three Ulcers and suffers from deep depression.”
“She could not and still cannot deal with the trauma…as it happened in front of her son,” Zietsman continued.
“The young man subsequently failed his school year due to the trauma he suffered, and in fact left school and never matriculated. His entire future has been ruined because of what happened that day.”
The case has been postponed for sentencing.
South Africa Today – South Africa News
