JOHANNESBURG, October 17 (ANA) – The Roodepoort Magistrate’s Court on Tuesday sentenced Kwaito star Sipho Ndlovu, better known as “Brickz” to 15 years in jail for raping his 16-year-old relative.
Sentencing had been postponed to Tuesday, when Magistrate John Baloyi said: “I am satisfied that a sentence of 15 years is an appropriate in the present matter ..”
The musician, who committed the crime in 2013 at his home in Ruimsig, has been behind bars since his bail was revoked. The “Sweetie My Baby” hitmaker was found guilty of rape on July 7, 2017.
On September 28, the rape survivor told the musician how he hurt her as part of the impact report read during pre-sentencing proceedings.
The rape survivor, who can not be named, did not attend the hearing owing to the publicity the trial was generating.
In her impact report, read by the state prosecutor, Pratisha Salie, she said: “Malume [uncle] you have really hurt me. I ask myself what I did for you to rape me. I wanted you to treat me like your daughter but you didn’t”.
At the time, the State asked the court to sentence Ndlovu to a minimum of 10 years in prison.
During the conclusion of the pre-sentencing proceedings, Prosecutor, Pratisha Salie, said said that there were no substantial circumstances to make the court deviate from handing down the minimum sentence of 10 years imprisonment.
Defense attorney Piet Du Plessis asked the court not be swayed by demands for a lengthy sentence, but to rather be circumspect.
Imploring the court to be lenient, he said his client was a first offender who could be rehabilitated. as well as to not hand down a sentence merely to satisfy the outcry of society which may not be rational.
But on Tuesday the court came down like a ton of bricks and handed Brickz a 15-year jail sentence.
– African News Agency (ANA), editing by Moses Mudzwiti
