A Cape Town Regional Court has sentenced a 48-year-old man to 18 years in prison for a string of violent crimes committed against his common law wife.

According to National Prosecuting Authority spokesperson Eric Ntabazalila, the man was convicted of rape, attempted murder, repeated kidnappings and assault. He was also convicted of malicious injury to property after damaging the windows of the woman’s boyfriend’s house during what the court heard was a jealous outburst.

The man has not been named in order to protect the complainant and the couple’s two minor children from secondary victimisation.

Abuse Started After Move to Du Noon

Ntabazalila said the couple met in the Eastern Cape in 2015 and later lived together. They married under customary law in 2019 and had two daughters.

The court heard that the man moved to Cape Town earlier that year to find work before the woman and their children joined him in Du Noon. Prosecutor Ruwayda Badrudeen told the court that the relationship had been abusive from early on, but that the violence became far worse about two months after the family relocated.

The woman said she endured repeated abuse, rape, attempted murder and threats to kill her.

Court Hears Details of Brutal Assault

One of the first major incidents happened when the man’s brother visited their home. The court heard that after an argument, he struck the woman over the head with a bottle.

She went to Du Noon Clinic, where glass was removed from her wound and she was bandaged. Staff reportedly advised her to wait for a J88 form so she could open a police case. But she left without it because she feared losing the family’s breadwinner and being unable to support herself and the children.

In a victim impact statement, she told the court the abuse left her traumatised and stripped of her sense of self-worth. She said she almost lost her life and thought constantly about her children during the attacks.

NPA Says Fight Against GBV Must Continue

The court imposed a cumulative 31-year prison sentence, but ordered some counts to run concurrently. That means the man will serve 18 years’ direct imprisonment.

The court also ordered that his details be added to the National Register for Sex Offenders and declared him unfit to possess a firearm.

Western Cape Director of Public Prosecutions Advocate Nicolette Bell condemned what she described, through the NPA, as brutal and misogynistic conduct. Ntabazalila said the NPA would continue fighting gender-based violence and femicide.