The Acting Provincial Commissioner of the South African Police Service in Limpopo, Major General Jan Scheepers has welcomed the hefty sentences handed down by the Limpopo Division of the High Court in Polokwane to a 43-year-old rapist on Wednesday, 23 March 2022, after he was convicted of raping two minor children and murdering one of them.
In the first incident, the trial court found that the accused (who cannot be named to protect the identity of the surviving child) had on 18 April 2008, at Kambaku village under Ritavi policing area outside Tzaneen, met a 6-year-old child walking from school, grabbed and strangled her and dragged her into the yard of the local Church where she was raped.
Afterwards, he then released the victim who managed to run to a nearby house to seek assistance. The accused was immediately chased down and caught by the members of the community who handed him over to the local Police.
The accused was, before the verdict, granted bail after numerous court appearances in the said year and continued with his heinous acts.
During January of 2016, the accused raped another child, aged 10, at Mohlaba Cross under Ritavi policing precinct and thereafter killed her.
Sergeant Sithole attached to the Tzaneen Family Violence and Child Protection unit (FCS) was tasked to investigate the incident and due to her determination and hard work she ensured that the accused was swiftly apprehended and was never granted bail until his lengthy incarceration.
The accused was sentenced as follows:
Count 1 – Murder: Twenty Five (25) years imprisonment of which five years imprisonment is wholly suspended for 5 years on conditions that the accused is not convicted of murder during the suspension period.
Count 2 – Rape: Twenty (20) years imprisonment.
Count 3: Rape – Twenty (20) years imprisonment of which ten years imprisonment is wholly suspended for five Years.
The sentence imposed in Count 2 shall run concurrently with Count 1.
The accused will therefore serve effective 30 years direct imprisonment.
“These sentences are indicative of the fact that violence perpetrated against the vulnerable members of the society will not be tolerated, especially women and children. The meticulous investigation conducted by Sergeant Nkhensani Laura Sithole of the FCS Unit in Tzaneen is highly commendable,” said Major General Scheepers.
