Durban couple jailed for life after horrific torture of 10-year-old relative

Durban couple has been sentenced to life imprisonment for a two-year campaign of horrific abuse against their 10-year-old sister. A Durban couple who subjected a young girl to a horrific, two-year campaign of torture, starvation, and sexual degradation have been sentenced to life imprisonment by the Durban Regional Court. The National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) welcomed the heavy sentences handed down to the 30-year-old man and his 30-year-old wife following their convictions on a string of harrowing charges including attempted murder of a minor, child abuse, child neglect, and intimidation.

The victim, who was just 10 years old when the nightmare began in 2021, is the biological sister of the wife. The couple can therefore not be named to protect the child’s identity. Following the death of her mother, she was taken in by the couple at their home in Welbedacht East, outside of Durban.

Instead of finding a safe haven, the young child was trapped in a house of horrors until her escape in 2023. NPA regional spokesperson Natasha Ramkisson-Kara detailed the extreme levels of violence the child endured, noting that the abuse intensified over the two-year period. “On various occasions during this period, the complainant was beaten with a beer bottle until it broke, stabbed several times, and assaulted with a hammer, broomstick, or vice-grip,” Ramkisson-Kara said.

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The young girl was also tied up, deliberately burned with boiling water, and systematically starved. The neglect was so severe that she lost teeth and her hair, and she was forced to resort to stealing food around the house just to survive. When caught trying to feed herself, she was subjected to further brutal beatings.

To ensure her suffering remained a secret, the woman regularly locked the house doors and property gates, keeping the girl completely isolated from the outside world and preventing her from attending school. The court heard further shocking evidence that the woman forced the child to perform an act of self-sexual assault, which was recorded. In another incident, the woman doused the young girl and two other relatives in petrol, threatening to set them on fire.

This action resulted in two additional counts of attempted murder. The child’s ordeal only ended when she managed to squeeze through a bathroom window and escape during a power outage. She ran to a neighbour’s house for safety, and the police were alerted the following morning.

State prosecutor Advocate Cheryl Pillay presented a formidable case, drawing on testimony from the victim, the neighbour, and other relatives. Crucial medical evidence was delivered via a J88 form, alongside expert testimony from two medical doctors and a clinical psychologist who detailed the staggering physical and mental trauma inflicted on the child.

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