After experiencing recurring nightmares, the girl’s mother suspected something was wrong and the girl informed her that she had been sexually assaulted by her aunt’s boyfriend.
A NORTHERN Cape man was sentenced to life imprisonment for raping a 12-year-old girl in a vacant shack in Riemvasmaak in Postmasburg.
The incident took place on March 14 last year, at about 5pm, after the girl’s aunt told her to accompany the accused to go and collect water.
Northern Cape police spokesperson Colonel Mashay Gamieldien said the accused, Elrico de Koker, 32, was the aunt’s boyfriend.
Gamieldien said that De Koker threatened the young girl not to tell anyone about the rape.
“On August 6, 2020, after experiencing recurring nightmares, the girl’s mother suspected something was wrong. The girl informed her that she had been sexually assaulted by the accused when she slept over at her aunt’s shack,” said Gamieldien.
She added that De Koker managed to evade the police for a few months.
“Then, on November 30, 2020, two members from the SAPS Postmasburg Stock Theft unit received information that the accused was hiking on the road between Kuruman and Kathu. The accused stabbed one of the police members who approached him and he was arrested and charged with assault and resisting arrest.”
Gamieldien said that De Koker remained in police custody until he was sentenced to life imprisonment in the Postmasburg Regional Court on Monday, October 18.
“His name was recorded in the National Register for Sex Offenders and he was declared unfit to possess a firearm,” added Gamieldien.
The provincial head of the SAPS Family Violence, Child Protection and Sexual Offences (FCS) unit, Brigadier Nicky Mills, welcomed the verdict and commended the investigating officer, Detective Warrant Officer Deborah Bob, who is the Postmasburg FCS commander, for securing a life sentence for the “heinous crime”.
