A security guard from Plettenberg Bay has been sentenced to life imprisonment for raping an 11-year-old boy while out on parole.
Randall Booysen was found guilty and sentenced at the Plettenberg Bay Regional Court this week after pleading guilty to all the charges against him.
National Prosecuting Authority spokesperson Eric Ntabazalila said Booysen confessed to raping the boy, who was on his way home from school on August 23, 2019, after meeting him on the N2 highway opposite the Plettenberg Bay Magistrate’s Court.
State prosecutor Johannes Jurie Marx told the court that a security guard at the victim’s school sent the Grade 4 learner to buy him a cool drink and when the victim returned, he noticed that his school transport left him behind and he decided to walk home.
Along the way, the child met the intoxicated accused who was on his way home from Zanzibar Tavern, where he drank and played pool.
“The accused claims the victim asked him for R5, and he promised him R100 if he did something for him. He then dragged the boy into the bushes through an opening in the fence next to the road. The boy walked in front of him, and the accused stumbled, knocking the victim over.
“He instructed the victim to pull down his pants, lie on his stomach, which he did, and raped him. The victim told the accused he was hurting him, and he stopped, then raped him.’’
Booysen was later arrested and linked to the crime through DNA evidence.
Booysen confirmed that he knew that due to the victim’s age, he could not consent to sexual intercourse, and that although he consumed alcohol before the incident, he had control over his actions, could distinguish between right and wrong and could act by such distinction.
“Marx argued it was a serious offence to commit rape and it was particularly serious when a child is raped. It was in the interest of the community that perpetrators of such crimes be prosecuted and appropriately punished, and that a clear message be sent to the community that perpetrators could expect heavy sentences if such offences were committed,’’ said Ntabazalila.
He said the incident left the young boy traumatised and the State prosecutor highlighted that Booysen was previously convicted on a count of rape and was still on parole when he committed the current offence.
Western Cape Director of Public Prosecutions, advocate Nicolette Bell, expressed shock at the abuse and betrayal of a minor by an adult who was supposed to protect and accompany the victim home and ensure his safe return after he missed his school transport.
She assured the public that the State would do all in its power to ensure that perpetrators of such crimes got the harshest sentences courts could hand down.