PMB aunt sentenced for trafficking and rape of niece
A KZN woman has begun serving a 20-year prison sentence after being found guilty of trafficking her 8-year-old niece in the Caluza area of Pietermaritzburg.
The Pietermaritzburg Regional Court sentenced the 22-year-old woman this week after also being convicted of rape and kidnapping. Police say in October 2017 she took the child without permission during a visit to her paternal home.
It's understood that they were transported by two unknown men to a house in East Street where the woman met with another man.
Officers say the child was then taken into a bedroom where she was raped. The NPA's Natasha Kara says they were found by a family member the next day and the child told them what happened.
Kara says the aunt was arrested two days later.
"The sentencing is a success for the NPA as trafficking of persons is a priority area for our organisation and a reality in our country", she said.
"This matter demonstrates that trafficking does not only take place across borders. It can be a simply, yet devastating movement, of removing a person away from their familiar surroundings", Kara said.
