EL cage fighter to be sentenced for rape on Thursday

01 Feb 2016 | Admin Author

Presentencing argument was heard in the East London magistrate's court on Wednesday in the rape trial of cage fighter Ryan van Niekerk.

Fight Force lightweight champion, Ryan Van Niekerk, was found guilty in July of raping the girl from the time that she was 9 until the age of 13.

The victim was the sister of his former fiance'.

The court heard that a tracking system in his company car had placed him at the secluded spot where the girl said she had been raped.

During argument in aggravation of sentence on Wednesday the victims mother told magistrate Paul Pretorius that Van Niekerk as being "manipulative" and "violent".

She relayed stories about her Van Niekerk had convinced the family that he had been hijacked as a way of explaining why his car had been spotted at a secluded place.

The court heard later that the Van Niekerk's car was at the spot because that is where the rapes had occurred.

Magistrate Pretorius is expected to pass sentence on Thursday.