Teacher gets 15 years for rape

A school teacher has been sentenced to 15 years in prison for raping a 15-year-old.

School teacher Peter-Paul Mandla Msomi (50) was sentenced in the Pinetown Regional Court on Friday.

The police’s Captain Thulani Zwane told City Press the girl had been living with her grandmother.

The granny was asked by a teacher, who is Msomi’s wife, if she could stay with them in Hammarsdale.

The girl was repeatedly raped by Msomi between December 2009 and February 2010.

He threatened the girl not to tell anyone about the rape. She was 15 years old at the time.

“In March 2010, the victim left her guardian’s residence and went back to her home where she eventually reported her sexual abuse,” said Zwane.

Last year, also in KZN, a teacher, Mlungisi Thusi (39), was given three life sentences by the eSikhawini Regional Court for kidnapping and raping a 15-year-old pupil.

Thusi, who began raping the girl in March last year, was caught in the act in May by members of the community, who called the police. He was raping the girl in the bush.

Muzi Mahlambi, education spokesperson in KZN, said the department was happy that drastic action was being taken against such offenders.

According to Rej Brijraj, CEO of the South African Council for Educators, approximately 30 teachers’ names have been struck off the register of educators for sexual misconduct since April last year.