A child r@pist, Ian Hoggins, has been sentenced to an effective life imprisonment in South Africa after a brave testimony of a four-year-old victim.
The Thembalethu Regional Court sentenced Hoggins after the State successfully argued that there was no other fitting sentence following his conviction for child r@pe, s3xual assault, and illegal possession of 124 child pornographic images.
The National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) in a statement on Tuesday, September 30, 2025, said the court declared him unfit to possess a firearm and ordered his name to be entered into the National Register of S3x Offenders.
Regional Court Magistrate Eugenia Jacobs sentenced 55-year-old Hoggins to life imprisonment for rape, 5 years direct imprisonment for s3xual assault and 8 years direct imprisonment for the illegal possession of child p0rnographic images.
The court ordered the sentences to run concurrently. It further ordered his name to be entered into the National Register of S3x Offenders and declared him unfit to possess a firearm. The court further ordered that the court record be sealed to protect the identity of the minor complainant.
“This successful prosecution and sentencing of the accused in this case are record-breaking, as the victim is the youngest person to testify in her own rape case in South Africa successfully. She was three years old when she was raped and s3xually assaulted.
She also testified that the accused photographed her private parts, but she could not be successfully identified in the images found on the cellular phone of the accused. She was four years old when she testified for four consecutive days,” the statement read.
This necessitated a lot of patience and King Solomon’s wisdom on the part of Adv. Gerda Marx, as the victim, grew tired and had a short attention span.
Adv Marx had to request the court to take breaks to ensure that the victim did not lose focus and was able to respond during her testimony and the rigorous cross-examination that followed. She also used anatomically correct dolls for the victim to demonstrate what had happened to her.
She testified that she visited the accused’s household and would play with the accused’s daughter.
When the incidents happened, the accused’s wife was at work, and his daughter was in another room watching movies. She testified that the accused called her as she walked to the toilet, took off her pants, diaper, s3xually assaulted her, raped her, and took pictures of her private parts using his cellphone. She further testified that the accused told her not to tell anybody.
On the evening of 30 August 2020, she told her mother that Ian had hurt her; he had hurt her very much. She was taken to a doctor who examined her genital organs.
She also testified that she reported to the doctor what happened. During cross-examination, she was asked to relay the whole story of what the accused did to her. She said, “Hy het net daai goete gedoen, Ian.”
She testified that she fears the accused. She does not want to visit their house again. They do not visit the house of the accused anymore because the accused has hurt her.
Her mother was shocked and did not know how to deal with it. She persisted and touched her mother’s face to ensure her mother was paying attention. Then she said, “Mamma hy het”.
She kept on repeating for about 30 minutes as to what happened. The mother and her sister took the victim to the George Thuthuzela Care Centre (TCC), where she was examined and reported a case to the police.
The victim’s mother testified that her daughter was afraid, anxious, and avoided people. She would hide behind her mother and would turn away from male persons. Did not want to have contact with people.
Arguing in aggravation of sentence, Adv Marx told the court that there were no substantial and compelling circumstances which allowed the court to deviate from the prescribed minimum sentence of life imprisonment.
The accused was known to the victim; from time to time, his daughter and his wife would look after the victim. There was a trust relationship built over time.
The gruesome crimes had a direct impact on the victim as she started to have nightmares after the incident and was taking prescribed medication for anxiety. Adv Marx further argued that the accused failed to take responsibility for his actions.
After his sentence, the accused, through his legal representative, Adv Knoetze, informed the court that he intended to appeal both the conviction and sentence.
He requested the court to extend his bail pending the finalisation of the appeal. Adv Marx successfully argued this, and the court ruled that the accused must serve his sentence, as it believed that no other court could come to a different conclusion.
Immediately after the delivery of this decision, the accused attempted to commit suicide in court and had to be rushed to the hospital.
Western Cape Acting Director of Public Prosecutions Adv Tommy Bunguzana applauded the minor for being able to successfully testify about what happened to her and assisted to ensure justice for herself and her family.
He also applauded the investigation, the prosecution team, staff at the TCC, the Court Preparation Officer and the intermediary for the different roles they played to ensure justice for the minor victim.
He thanked the Homeland Security Investigations American Embassy for their assistance in downloading the child pornographic images, which led to the accused’s conviction on the charge.
Adv Bunguzana said all cases of sexual violence encroach on the rights to dignity and privacy of the victims as enshrined in our Constitution, hence the NPA will continue to aggressively prosecute them.
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