The Provincial Head of the FCS units in the Northern Cape, Brigadier Nicky Mills welcomed the sentence handed down to 23-year-old Kobus Julies on 27 January 2021, in the Hartswater Magistrate’s Court.
The accused threatened and raped a 14-year-old female victim on 12 March 2019 when she was walking home from Pampierstad to the smallholdings in Hartswater via the Piet Strydom road. While walking home she met up with the accused who grabbed her and threatened her with a knife before forcing her to undress in the veld. He then raped her and fled the scene.
On 30 March 2019, the victim spotted the accused at Pampierstad Mountain View and alerted the investigating officer, Constable Edwin Thabapelo who immediately arrested the accused. However, after being detained, the accused escaped from lawful custody and was re-arrested on the same day.
The accused Kobus Julies was found guilty and sentenced on 27 January 2021 as follows:
18 years imprisonment for rape and 5 years imprisonment for escape from lawful custody. He was also declared unfit to possess a firearm and his name was recorded in the National Sexual Offences Register.
He was also linked to another rape case involving a 23-year-old female that will be on trial in the Warrenton Circuit Court during February 2021.
The Hartswater FCS Commander, Captain Gideon Ferrelson commended Constable Thabapelo for the sterling investigation which led to the incarceration of the perpetrator for committing such heinous crimes.
