A Mossel Bay man has been acquitted of raping his mother but was found guilty of sexually assaulting a nine-year-old girl.
In a three-hour judgement on Tuesday, regional magistrate Maka Mandela, said that the guilt of the 42-year-old man was not proved beyond reasonable doubt.
The man, who cannot be identified, was arrested in February 2014 and has been in custody throughout the trial.
Although the suspect's 79-year-old mother, who has since passed away, gave a statement in which she described the rapes, Mandela said that the State did not provide enough concrete evidence.
The man was however found guilty on two charges of crimen-injuria for hiding his mother's dirty underwear and the underwear of a nine-year-old girl under his bed.
He was also found guilty of sexually assaulting the child.
Mandela sentenced the accused to six-years imprisonment on the sexual assault charge which was suspended for three years.
He was also sentenced to effectively six-months imprisonment on the crimen-injuria charges.
