Their ages proved no obstacle to justice as, with the help of their testimony, the Port Elizabeth high court this week sentenced a 51-year-old child rapist to two life sentences.

The two girls were aged five and six at the time of the rapes on September 21 2017.

Mlungiseleli Patrick Tyane, of New Brighton, was also sentenced to 10 years on two counts of kidnapping and 15 years for the attempted murder of one of his victims.

He was convicted in December after judge Irma Schoeman found the state had proved beyond reasonable doubt that he committed the crimes.

Schoeman found no compelling or substantial circumstances to deviate from the prescribed minimum sentences and increased the sentences for first-time offenders accused of kidnapping from five to 10 years, Eastern Cape police said in a statement.

Tyane kidnapped the girls and took them to his shack, where he tied up their arms, put cloths into their mouths and raped them. 

Later, he untied the six-year-old and took her to a stadium, where he stabbed her multiple times and left her for dead.

She was found alive by police and members of the community who were looking for the girls after they were reported missing.

Her horrific account of what happened led police to the shack, where the five-year-old was found and rescued.

She was with the suspect in his bed. 

Eastern Cape police provincial commissioner Lt-Gen Liziwe Ntshinga applauded the sentence and expert investigation by the Motherwell Cluster Family Violence, Child Protection and Sexual Offences Unit.

“This was an incredibly difficult case to investigate with the evidence of two minor girls and no eyewitnesses, but today the perpetrator was dealt with by the full force of the law,” said Ntshinga.