"You raped her, taking advantage of the fact that her father was blind and could not see what you were doing to his daughter,"

An Mpumalanga man who raped an eight-year-old girl while caring for her blind father was sentenced to life behind bars by the Tonga Regional Court on Tuesday.

Bongani Mtsakatsi Maseko, 25, of Mbuzini village near the Swaziland and Mozambique border, was sentenced after pleading guilty to rape, a Sapa correspondent reported.

"Maseko, the community is sick and tired of living among people like you. I will make sure that I give you a sentence that suits the crime that you have committed," Magistrate Edgar Moletsane told him.

Maseko was asked to look after the girl's father.

"You raped her, taking advantage of the fact that her father was blind and could not see what you were doing to his daughter," he said.

Maseko was also banned from owning a gun. He was arrested on October, 1, 2013, three years after first raping the girl in 2010.