Three people have been sentenced in the Wynberg Magistrate’s Court to a collective 80 years imprisonment for trafficking a teenaged girl back in 2011.
Back in 2011, a young girl aged 14 at the time, had lost her dad, she was left with her aunt who would act as her legal guardian. However, on 22 December 2012, her aunt forcibly sent her on a taxi from Mount Fletcher in the Eastern Cape to Phillippi in Cape Town to marry Malibongwe Gudwana.
Once she had arrived in Phillippi in the early hours of 23 December 2012, she was met by Malibongwe Gudwana and his mother, Thandiwe Gudwana. The young girl soon learnt that this was an arranged marriage, Gudwana claimed to have paid for her fathers funeral and she was now to become his wife.
According to reports, Gudwana proceeded to rape and abuse her for the period between December 2011 and January 2012
The teenager managed to convince Gudwana and his mother to enrol her at a school in Phillipi, it is here where she reported her abuse, says National Prosecuting Authority spokesperson, Eric Ntabazalila. She was then taken to a safe house and the case was reported to the SAPS.
Malibongwe has now been sentenced to 55 years imprisonment, 25 for rape and 25 for human trafficking, 3 for kidnapping and 2 for assault.
His mother was sentenced to 10 years for human trafficking and 3 years for kidnapping, while the young girl’s aunt has been given a 12-year sentence for human trafficking.
