A 22-year-old man has been sentenced to 20 years in prison for r@ping his biological mother while she was asleep at her home in Carnarvon, Northern Cape, South Africa.

The Carnarvon Regional Court handed down the sentence after the accused pleaded guilty to the offence, following DNA evidence linking him to the crime.

The incident occurred on November 23, 2025, after the 42-year-old woman and her life partner had been drinking alcohol before falling asleep at their home.

The accused, who had also been drinking at a friend’s house, later returned home and found his mother and her partner asleep.

According to National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) spokesperson Mojalefa Senokoatsane, the accused undressed his mother and s£xually penetrated her without her consent.

The woman reportedly woke up during the assault and discovered her son on top of her.

When she confronted him, he fled the house. She later informed her partner about what had happened, after which the matter was reported to the police.

Following his arrest, the accused initially denied the allegations in a written statement. However, subsequent DNA evidence linked him to the offence.

“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 r@pe,” Senokoatsane said.

In a victim impact statement presented before the court, the mother described the profound emotional impact of the assault. She said 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 offence warranted a lengthy custodial sentence.

The court subsequently sentenced him to 20 years’ direct imprisonment and ordered that his details be entered into the National Register for S£x Offenders.