A 57-year-old child abuser has been sentenced to life for trafficking a young girl from the Eastern Cape and forcing her to live as his wife.
Western Cape National Prosecuting Authority spokesperson, Eric Ntabazalila, says the ordeal of the Ngqamakhwe girl started when she was approached by a woman in May 2012, who asked her if she was interested in getting married to a young man.
At the time, the victim was 16 years old and attending primary school.
Ntabazalila says: “She inquired how old the man was and the woman told her that he was 25 years old. It was agreed that when she left with the woman, some people would inform her grandmother of the marriage.”
In Queenstown the following day, she was dressed in makoti clothes, indicating that she was married, but she was yet to meet her husband, Ayanda Wellington Vellem.
Vellem arrived two weeks later, but after seeing him, the teen said she wanted to go home.
She later saw Vellem’s ID and learnt that he was 45 years old – the same age as her mother.
Ntabazalila says that night, the girl was asked to take food to Vellem and he raped her in his bedroom.
Ntabazalila adds: “She was afraid of him and told him that she was 16 years old, and did not like what he was doing, but he continued to rape her.”
Vellem then took the girl to Cape Town and she stayed with his sister in Khayelitsha, while he stayed in Dunoon.
Ntabazalila says Vellem would visit on weekends and rape the teen.
As the assaults got worse, the teen was taken to a clinic in Khayelitsha for her injuries where a nurse questioned her age and asked why she was dressed as a makoti.
The girl told the nurse alles and also learnt that she contracted sexually transmitted diseases.
She was put into contact with her uncle who rescued her and a criminal case was opened.
The Cape Town Regional Court sentenced Vellem to life in jail for rape and trafficking in persons for sexual purposes, nine months for failure to comply with the requirements of a valid customary marriage and six months for assault.
monique.duval@inl.co.za