The Acting Provincial Commissioner of the SAPS in the Northern Cape, Major General Henriette de Waal welcomed the life imprisonment as well as 26 years of incarceration handed down to 32-year-old rapist Tshepiso Godfrey Oliphant on 13 January 2021, in the Kuruman Regional court.
The first rape occurred on 14 December 2012, when the 18-year-old victim was lured by the accused to Promise land in Mothibistad where he took her to an open field and raped her twice. He also robbed her of her cellphone valued at R2000-00 and money. He left her and fled the scene. The victim was able to report the incident and received medical treatment.
The second incident occurred on 12 July 2013 when the 29-year-old victim met the accused at the hiking spot next to the Kuruman court. Both the victim and accused climbed into the same vehicle and he got out with the victim. He then grabbed her and dragged her into an abandoned house where he raped her twice and also stole her cell phone valued at R3000-00 and cash.
The accused, Tshepiso Oliphant was arrested on 11 September 2013 and received bail. He absconded and was re-arrested on 9 September 2020 and linked to both cases with DNA. He was detained until the finalisation of the investigation and was sentenced as follows:
Count 1 – Rape – 10 years prison sentence
Count 2 – Rape – 10 years prison sentence
Count 3 Robbery – 3 years
Count 4 – Rape – Life imprisonment
Count 5 – Robbery – 3 years.
His name was also recorded in the National sexual offences register and was declared unfit to possess a firearm.
The Provincial Head of the Family Violence, Child Protection and Sexual Offences unit in the province, Brig Nicky Mills commended the investigating officer from the Serial Electronic Crime Investigation unit (SECI), Detective Sergeant Sipho Andrease for the meticulous and thorough investigation of the two cases which led to the incarceration of the perpetrator. He also stated that what made the incidents even more heinous was the fact that both victims were pregnant at the time of the rapes.
