Mbimbela - An Mpumalanga youth found guilty of raping a 14-year-old girl was sentenced to 16 years in jail by the Nelspruit Regional Court on Monday.
Johnson Hlabathini Mkhonto, 18, from Barberton, was arrested in April last year after he was accused of raping the girl in a bush there in 2012, a Sapa correspondent reported.
Mkhonto, who was 16 at the time, pleaded not guilty.
Prosecutor Cindy Sihlongonyane said the victim was with Mkhonto's girlfriend when he grabbed her.
“DNA samples found inside a condom picked up by police at the crime scene matched positively with that of the accused,” she said.
Sihlongonyane said investigators found two condoms at the scene.
“According to the victim, after the accused grabbed her, he tried putting a condom on, but it dropped. He then took another one, tried putting it on and succeeded. He then raped her afterwards,” she said.
Sihlongonyane said the DNA was found in the second condom.
“At the scene, police also found the victim's panties and her shoes,” she said.
In sentencing Mkhonto, magistrate Willie Wilkins declared him unfit to possess a firearm.
Outside court his mother cried and said her son was innocent.
“My son did not do it. He has been sentenced for something he did not do.”
Sapa