KAMHLUSHWA- A 28-year-old man is now serving a life sentence for raping a teenager. The man used to send the victim to call his girlfriend but one day he turned against the young girl.

Themba Ryan Khoza, 28, of Phosaville, KaMhlushwa, was sentenced at the Nelspruit High Court after an arrest by Tonga police in June last year. He was sentenced last Thursday.

Police reported that Khoza had attempted to buy the girl’s silence by handing gifts to her.

It is said that at some point the rapist ordered the young girl to suck his penis after he had bundled her into a toilet. This after the girl had returned to Khoza without his girlfriend.

“Truly speaking, we are so relieved that the man has been put away. We suspected foul play but the girl did not want to break the silence as she feared the man. It was after many attempts at getting to the truth that the girl finally confessed for being sexual assaulted by the rapist. We then sent her to the clinic for consultation,” said one of the man’s neighbour who spoke on condition of anonymity.

Tonga police’s spokeswoman, Captain Rose Qwabe, has conveyed her gratitude to her fellow cops for making the sentence possible. Qwabe believes that such sentences could be a lesson to other people who still want to commit similar crimes.