A 48-year-old father of six children was sentenced to 20 years imprisonment for raping his daughters, aged 10 and 12.

The accused was 39 years old at the time of committing the horrid offences against his daughters.

Regional Magistrate Frans Anderson sentenced the father, whose name cannot be disclosed to protect the identities of his daughters, to 15 years imprisonment on each of the two counts of rape.

He ordered that 10 years of the 15 years imposed on count two of rape run concurrently with the 15 years sentence on count one of rape.

Handing down the sentence in the Mariental Regional Court, Magistrate Anderson remarked that understanding why the convict committed these horrendous acts on his daughters, whom he loved so dearly and who loved him in return, would be a pointless exercise for him.

Sentencing convicted people, such as the accused, is the only instrument at his disposal in his never-ending war against crime, he said.

Anderson hopes that after serving the sentence, the accused will return to society a rehabilitated and better person.

Prosecutor Eric Naikaku represented the state.