A 33-year-old Beit Bridge resident was recently sentenced to an effective 50 years in jail for raping his niece several times before severely stabbing her and her four children while they were asleep.

He also robbed the woman of her generator, an inverter and a solar panel.

The man pleaded not guilty to three counts of rape and another three counts of attempted murder when he appeared before Regional Magistrate Owen Tagu.

He was sentenced to 10 years in jail for the first count of attempted murder, which will run concurrently with the 20 years of rape. He was further slapped with 10 years each on the other two counts of attempted murder.

The prosecutor, Mr Johannes Tlou, said that on the night of January 5, the man went to the woman´s homestead. On arrival, he went to the kitchen where he armed himself with a knife before gaining entry into the woman´s bedroom through the window.

It was testified that inside the room he found the woman sleeping with her four children. He demanded money from the complainant, who said that she did not have any cash with her. The man then ordered the victims to get out of their blankets and stabbed the woman several times all over her body.

He then later turned on the woman’s children, one of them a six year-old girl, and severely stabbed them with the knife.

The woman managed to unlock the door and stormed out of the house. He caught up with her, however, and raped her at knifepoint.

The court was told that soon after that, Ndou forced the woman back to her bedroom where he raped her twice more before robbing her of a diesel-powered generator, an inverter and a solar panel.

A report was made to the police, leading to his arrest. The victims sustained injuries all over their bodies and they were taken to the Beit Bridge District Hospital for treatment.