Couple sentenced to 16 life terms for horrific abuse of vulnerable teenagers.
The Paarl Regional Court in the Western Cape handed down 16 life terms and an additional 12 years’ direct imprisonment to a couple for sexually exploiting two vulnerable teenagers.
Regional National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) spokesperson, Eric Ntabazalila, said the unit secured convictions against a 51-year-old man and his 42-year-old wife on eight counts of rape, eight counts of trafficking in persons, and four counts of grooming children.
Ntabazalila said the court further ordered that the couple's names to be entered into the National Register for Sex Offenders and declared both unfit to possess firearms.
The court heard how the couple targeted two 14-year-old girls who were facing severe socio-economic hardships. One victim had lost her mother while her father struggled with alcohol abuse; the second girl's family was left homeless and sleeping under a bridge after losing their home in a fire.
