After almost 40 years, an Atlantis oupa has been arrested for the rape of his niece at her Mitchells Plain home.
The 68-year-old Bernard Da Fraetas made his first appearance in the Mitchells Plain Magistrate’s Court yesterday, after being busted during a tracing operation on Friday night.
Da Fraetas was thrust into the spotlight a year ago when his 51-year-old niece broke her silence on the alleged sex attacks.
She lodged a civil claim against her oom for R1 million in damages for the psychological trauma of being exposed to porn at the age of 12 years old.
She decided to speak up when she learnt her uncle was working as a school staff transport driver.
According to the summons issued by the Western Cape High Court, the sexual assaults date back to the 1980s when Da Fraetas worked for the victim’s father.
“I was about 12 and in Standard 5 in the period between 1984 and 1985. He worked for my father and would do the deliveries. He would come to the house and make me watch porn with him and he would masturbate,” she said.
In court papers, she alleges that Da Fraetas would lay her down on her parents’ bed and force her to watch as he ejaculated, while grooming her on how to masturbate.
A rape case was registered at Mitchells Plain SAPS last year and it is believed that another relative has since come forward.
Police spokesperson FC van Wyk has confirmed Friday’s arrest: “A 68-year-old man was arrested during a tracing operation in Atlantis. He [appeared] in the Mitchells Plain Magistrate’s Court [yesterday].”
Da Fraetas has been charged with rape and sexual assault and was remanded in custody.
The case was postponed to tomorrow for a formal bail application.
Speaking to the Daily Voice on Monday, the woman said she has been living with the trauma for many years.
“When I found out he started to drive school children, that is when I decided I should step up, I need to make a case. I need to make sure that others don’t get hurt the way I was hurt.”
Explaining her self-made T-shirt bearing the words “No. A complete sentence”, she said: “At the time he was abusing me, raping me, I was saying ‘no’. I said no and he wouldn’t listen.
“Even at my grandmother’s funeral, he took out his penis and showed it to me and said: ‘come, one more time’. That was when I decided to tell my parents and my parents didn’t believe me.”
Da Fraetas’ family declined to comment on the case.
dailyvoice@inl.co.za