Rape survivor furious at 15-year sentence

Cape Town - A 30-year-old woman who was raped in front of her autistic son on a Cape Town beach is furious that her attacker was sentenced to only 15 years in jail.

“I’ve been through all this, for what? For 15 years?” the unnamed woman told the Cape Argus.

“I’m totally freaking out. It’s absolutely disgusting. How many more people are going to get hurt before he is put away for life? What happened freaked me out. I was scared, but I’m even more terrified now.”

A Cape Town court convicted serial sex offender Jan Johannes Schietekat, 62, of the rape that happened on Bloubergstrand nearly four years ago.

The woman was sexually assaulted and raped in front of her autistic son, who was 2 at the time.

The magistrate said Schietekat’s age and the fact that he had been in prison for almost four years awaiting trial, counted as mitigating factors.

But the traumatised victim said the fact that her attacker would probably get out early too due to good behaviour left her more scared than ever.

“It makes me sick to my stomach, I don’t want to be in this country anymore.”

July 20, 2012