Cape Town: The Eastern Cape High Court in Grahamstown has sentenced an East London attorney to two terms of life imprisonment plus four years for raping and assaulting his wife.
The 49-year-old attorney was sentenced to a life term each for raping his wife twice, in February 2012 and May 2019.
He was given an additional four years for two counts of assault to do grievous bodily harm.
Judge Judith Robertson ordered that the sentences run concurrently.
National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) provincial spokesperson Anelisa Ngcakani said the attorney’s application for leave to appeal his sentence was refused and his application for bail, pending his petition to the Supreme Court of Appeal for leave to appeal, was also rejected.
The attorney was taken into custody to start serving his sentence.
“Judge Roberson had rejected his defence that he lacked criminal capacity, caused by a combination of alcohol abuse and a diagnosis of attention deficit-hyperactivity disorder (ADHD).
“Judge Roberson concluded that his actions were focused and goal-directed. The man also admitted in court that he enjoyed watching violent pornographic material and added that some of the violent sexual acts he performed on his wife were done with her consent,” Ngcakani said.
The judge accepted the victim’s version as it corroborated the evidence brought before the court.
During sentencing, Judge Robertson commented on the attorney’s evidence in respect of his sentencing. He had apologised for wasting the court’s time and said the court should be concentrating on “real rapes and real criminals”.
Judge Robertson hit back, saying marital rape was an extremely serious offence.