An 80-year-old Eastern Cape man has been jailed for six years for raping his then teenage daughter more than 40 years ago.
Nyamekile Bhenge was sentenced in the Mthatha Regional Court on Tuesday for the incidents which occurred between 1978 and 1984.
National Prosecuting Authority spokesperson Luxolo Tyali says the daughter, an established businesswoman in Gauteng, took inspiration from the successful prosecution of now-paroled former tennis ace Bob Hewitt in laying charges against her father.
"She only decided to report her ordeal to authorities in Johannesburg after the much publicised successful prosecution of Hewitt in 2015," said Tyali.
He said Gauteng police transferred the case to Mthatha, and Bhenge was subsequently arrested.
He pleaded guilty in July ahead of this week's sentencing.
"In his plea explanation, Bhenge blamed alcohol. He claimed that he committed the rapes while drunk and thought his daughter was one of his many girlfriends as his wife had left him," said Tyali.
Tyali added that the crimes were committed before the Minimum Sentences Act came into effect and that the court used its discretion in sentencing Bhenge by taking his age and health into consideration.
He said the NPA welcomed the sentence and expressed the hope that it would encourage other victims of sexual offences to come forward, even if the crimes took place a long time ago.
