A Delft community worker and scholar transport driver has been slapped with an 80-year jail sentence for raping a 15-year-old passenger.
Tears flowed at the Parow Regional Court on Tuesday as the teen took the stand and told Amien Fakier, 57, how being raped by him has haunted her.
The case dates back to February 2020 when Fakier was hired by her parents to drive her to school.
The tense proceedings saw family of both the victim and Fakier fill the public gallery as Magistrate Amanda van Leeve lashed out at the father of seven for his lack of remorse.
Tempers flared during mitigation proceedings as Legal Aid lawyer Colin Lekay asked the magistrate to deviate from the life sentence, saying “it was not the worst rape”.
Fakier told the court that he ran a takeaway business from his home and earned R20 000 a month.
He said as the sole breadwinner, his family would suffer if he goes to the mang.
But State prosecutor Dercia Rabie pointed out that Fakier had three adult children, of which two were unemployed, who could run the business while he was in prison.
Addressing the court, the victim cried as she described how she went from being a happy young girl to a depressed teenager who suffered post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and resorted to self mutilation to help her deal with the trauma.
“Do you know what it’s like to hate yourself? I would choose the pain of a blade over the pain you caused,” she said.
“I continuously cut myself, drank pills to feel nothing, smoked weed just to smile for a while and drank alcohol to escape reality. But nothing helped.
“I was too scared to close my eyes at night. I had to suffer the consequences of your actions. I forgave you and you never even said sorry,” the sobbing teen said.
In sentencing Fakier, Magistrate Van Leeve lambasted him, and said he did not prove compelling circumstances for why he should get a lighter sentence.
“Your attitude was mocking. You are a father of girl children. If this had happened to your child what sentence would you call for? You showed no remorse. You took away her childhood, her life. You destroyed her.”
Fakier received three life sentences for rape and five years for sexual assault, bringing his sentence to an effective 80 years.