A 22-year-old man has been sentenced to 20 years in prison for raping his biological mother while she was asleep at her home in Carnarvon, Northern Cape.
The Carnarvon Regional Court sentenced the man after he pleaded guilty to rape following DNA evidence linking him to the offense.
The incident occurred on November 23, 2025, after the 42-year-old woman and her life partner had been drinking alcohol and fell asleep.
The accused, who had also been drinking at a friend’s house, returned home and found his mother and her partner asleep.
NPA spokesperson Mojalefa Senokoatsane said he undressed his mother and sexually penetrated her without her consent.
The woman woke up during the assault and discovered her son on top of her.
When she confronted him, he fled the house.
She later told her partner what had happened, and the matter was reported to police.
The accused initially denied the allegations in a written statement following his arrest.
However, DNA evidence later linked him to the crime.
“Faced with the compelling evidence presented by the State, including the complainant’s testimony and the DNA results, the accused ultimately pleaded guilty to the charge of rape,” Senokoatsane said.
In a victim impact statement presented in court, the mother described the emotional impact of the assault, saying she had raised the accused as a single parent and felt “deeply hurt and betrayed” by her son.
She told the court that she continues to receive counselling and suffers ongoing trauma, including difficulty sleeping.
Although the court considered the accused’s guilty plea as a mitigating factor, it found that the seriousness of the offense warranted a lengthy custodial sentence.
The court sentenced him to 20 years’ direct imprisonment and ordered that his details be entered into the National Register for Sex Offenders.
