The “despicable” act of selling a young girl for sex to fund an alcohol addiction has earned her mother five years behind bars and a 65-year-old man life in prison.

The two were sentenced by the Lady Frere Regional Court in the Eastern Cape for rape and sexual exploitation – which started when the girl was just 10 — on Thursday.

Directorate of Priority Crimes Investigation spokesman Captain Anelisa Feni said that a case of trafficking in persons was transferred from the Queenstown Family Violence‚ Child Protection and Sexual Offences (FCS) Unit to the Hawks in August 2014.

This was after the 51-year-old mother was arrested for giving the 65-year-old man permission to have sex with her then 12-year-old daughter in exchange for an undisclosed amount of money. The mother’s motive for selling off her child was allegedly to satisfy her alcohol addiction.

“It transpired during the investigations that the sexual exploitation of the minor began approximately towards the end of 2012 when the girl child was 10-years-old‚” said Feni.

The National Head for the Directorate for Priority Crime Investigation‚ Lieutenant General Mthandazo Ntlemeza‚ welcomed the ruling but added that the sentence would never take away the trauma the girl went through.

“Preying on‚ coercing‚ and forcing an innocent child into a world of sex is simply despicable and will not be tolerated. I am very thrilled by the co-operation we received from the Queenstown Family Violence‚ Child Protection and Sexual Offences (FCS) Unit. This is an example of local police and the Hawks working together to make our community safer‚” he said.

– TMG Digital