SINDISWA Machabela (23) can’t sleep and she can’t get on with her life.
Thirteen years ago, when Sindiswa was only 10 years old, her uncle was arrested for raping her and he was given a life sentence in jail.
But now the young woman from Petrusburg, in the Free State, claims she was forced by her mother, who died in 2006, to say that her uncle, Jackson Thobela (55), had raped her.
“I can’t live with myself, knowing my uncle is suffering in jail for a crime he did not commit,” she said.
When the SunTeam visited Jackson in prison he said he was happy that his niece had finally told the truth.
“I forgive her and my late sister for the trauma they caused me,” he said.
Sindiswa told Daily Sun her mother hated Jackson and told her they should lie to have him sent to jail for rape.
She said Jackson never harmed her.
He was sentenced in 2002 and sent to Mangaung Prison, a maximum security facility in Bloemfontein.
He was transferred to Grootvlei Prison in January last year.
Sindiswa said she had been living with the guilt ever since the day she and her uncle went looking for her mother, who had gone out to drink.
“We found my mother with her boyfriend. She screamed at my uncle and told him to stop looking for her,” said Sindiswa.
“The next day my mother told me to lie about my uncle or she would beat me.”
She said her uncle went to jail for a crime he did not commit.
“I will only be free if he gets out,” cried Sindiswa.
Jackson’s attorney, Lawrence Tshabalala, said: “I have seen an affidavit the woman wrote. Everything is in Jackson’s favour.
“Now we must wait for the law to take its course,” he said.
Regional head of correctional services in the Free State and Northern Cape, Langa Bikane, said the woman should make a statement at a court or a police station. He said an inmate also has the right to lodge an appeal.
National Prosecuting Authority spokesman Frank Lesenyego said they would first need to investigate the case again from the start.
By: KABELO TLHABANELO
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