The 46-year-old man who raped his 10-year-old stepdaughter close to 1 000 times over five years has been sentenced to nine life terms in the KZN High Court (Durban), according to a TimesLIVE report.

The Verulam man was given an additional 173 years after being found guilty of 56 counts relating to rape, human trafficking, sexual grooming, sexual abuse and distribution of child pornography.

The man deliberately laced his fingers with acid to burn off his fingerprints in an apparent attempt to prevent him being linked to other crimes. He was arrested in June 2018 at his home in Verulam, north of Durban, after the child confided in a neighbour about the alleged abuses.

The neighbour rallied a group of women who confronted the man when he returned home from work.

During the trial it was revealed he man had raped his stepdaughter since the death of her mother in 2013 almost every second day at their residences in Benoni, Effingham, Pinetown, Reservoir Hills, Sydenham and other areas in Gauteng and KZN.

Judge Mohini Moodley who found the accused guilty of all 56 charges, said he should be registered as a sex offender and not be allowed near children.

Moodley said the stepfather had prostituted the child for financial gain and the investigating officer, Nevarge Lutchminarain of the Verulam Family Violence, Child Protection and Sexual Offences Unit, should pursue charges against all those who abused the child sexually.

Full TimesLIVE report