‘Angry’ man stabs girl 66 times after her mother rejected his romantic advances

The Pretoria High Court has sentenced Conwell Mongezi Chauketo to life and six years in prison for the murder and kidnapping of 11-year-old Khothatso Welhelmina Tshabalala.

The court ordered that the sentence run concurrently, and he be declared unfit to possess a firearm.

According to National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) regional spokesperson Lumka Mahanjana, 34-year-old Chauke from Loftus Gardens called the victim’s mother while she was at work on 29 December 2020 and threatened her because she did not agree to meet with him the previous day.

‘He lured the child’

Chauke, who was her prayer group member and prayer partner, told the court that he believed “she was taking him for a fool” as he was interested in pursuing a love relationship with her.

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In the afternoon of that same day, Chauke went to Mamelodi East, where the victim and her mother stayed. Upon arrival, he found the victim playing with her younger sister and the neighbour’s child outside the neighbour’s house.

“He then lured the child under the pretence that he wanted to collect his belongings from her home,” said Mahanjana.

“When they got into her home, Chauke stabbed the child sixty-six times. He covered her body with linen on top of her bed and fled the scene.

“When the neighbours could not find the child, they went to look for her at her house when they found her deceased body on top of her bed.”

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On 31 December 2020, Chauke handed himself over at Lyttleton Police Station and has been in custody since.

Chauke says he was angry

In court, Chauke denied kidnapping the child and only pleaded guilty to the charge of murder. He told the court that he stabbed the girl due to the anger he felt towards the mother of the victim.

However, the state managed to prove that Chauke did lure and kidnap the child.

During sentence proceedings, his legal representative asked the court to consider the three years Chauke spent in prison awaiting the finalisation of his trial when imposing the sentence.

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Though he has previous convictions of theft, he was a first offender of violent crimes.

However, state prosecutor Advocate Sipho Lalane argued that even though Chauke pleaded guilty to the charge of murder, he did not show remorse, “but is rather regretful of his actions”.

Advocate Lalani also handed in two Victim Impact Statements (VIS), where the mother of the victim expressed that since her child was killed, she is not psychologically well and that Chauke took away her best friend.

The victim’s sister also mentioned that she is always lonely because she does not have anyone to play with as the victim was also a friend to her. Her school performance has declined after losing her sister.

Chauke ‘merciless’

When handing down the sentence, Judge Jacobus Johannes Strijdom agreed with the state that Chauke was convicted of a serious offence which violated the deceased constitutional right to life.

“He was merciless when stabbing the child 66 times, which shows that he is a danger to society,” said the judge.

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The interest of justice outweighed his circumstances, and, as a result, the court found no substantial and compelling circumstances to deviate from imposing the prescribed minimum sentence.

The NPA welcomed the sentence and hopes that it will send a strong message that it will ensure those who commit violent crimes against women and children do not have a place in society.