By: Kaya 959 News
A former top official at the Ekurhuleni Metro Police Department has been sentenced to life imprisonment for raping young girls.
Adam Cummings, who worked as a senior superintendent at the EMPD, and co-accused Tebogo Maregele were sentenced to a collective 186 years imprisonment by the Gauteng High Court.
NPA spokesperson Phindi Mjonondwane said Cummings was convicted of two counts of rape, statutory rape, and trafficking in persons for sexual purposes and was sentenced to an effective life imprisonment, whilst Maregele was sentenced to an effective 20 years imprisonment for being an accomplice to rape, sexual exploitation, and trafficking in persons for sexual purposes. The court further ordered that both accused’s particulars be included in the national register for sex offenders.
READ: Pastor sentenced to life for rape
Mjonondwane said Cummings met Meregele when she was eight-years-old.
“She was friends with his child and he took advantage of the fact that she came from a poor background and would give her money and buy her food whilst grooming her sexually. He also introduced her to drugs and alcohol,” she said.
Later, Cummings used Meregele to recruit young girls from her neighbourhood and he would sexually exploit them.
The victims were aged nine and 16 at the time.
During proceedings, the court heard how Maragele would take them to a secluded area to meet with Cummings, who would rape them after wielding his official firearm and thereafter give them money and food.
“During aggravation for sentence, Senior State Advocate, Nonkululeko Serepo presented psycho-social report compiled by probation officers, Xoliswa Budaza and Thato Modise, detailing the impact the crimes had on the victims, wherein one of the victims detailed how she finds it difficult to trust both females and males as she felt betrayed and violated by both sexes,” Mjonondwane said.
Mjonondwane added that in the interview with the probation officer, the nine-year-old victim told Budaza that she wished that Cummings could be permanently removed from society so that young girls could be safe. Serepo pleaded with the court to grant the victim her wish, arguing that Cummings was a high ranking officer, entrusted with a firearm to protect society but did the opposite.
READ: Woman, 22, shares rape ordeal: ‘I was raped by 7 men’
Image courtesy of Pexels/ @HarrisonHanis



