Sex trial told of teen's trauma

THE aunt of a teenage girl who was sexually abused by her foster mother and that woman's boyfriend cried bitterly in court yesterday as she described her anger at the couple.

"What happened should never have happened. It is just not fair. What they did to her will affect her for the rest of her life. I have four daughters and I cannot even imagine what she has been through," the aunt sobbed at the Port Elizabeth High Court.

On Monday, the girl's former foster mother, a 41-year-old woman from Parsonsvlei, was convicted of consensual sexual penetration of a child, consensual sexual violation of a child, displaying pornographic material to a child, failure to report a rape, and unlawful possession of child pornography related to her foster daughter.

Her boyfriend, aged 40, was convicted of rape, sexual assault, displaying pornography to a child and the unlawful possession of child pornography.

The court found that the man had been having sexual intercourse with the girl, aged 13, at the time. After the girl's foster mother discovered sexually explicit pictures and videos on her partner's phone, instead of reporting the offence, she engaged in a threesome with the girl and her partner. - Lee-Anne Butler