Pretoria court convicts ‘Tsakane graveyard rapist’

Known as the ‘Tsakane graveyard serial rapist’, Petetona Abel Lebele told the Pretoria High Court during his guilty plea on Tuesday, 18 April, that he targeted his victims on their way to school or home.

During the court’s sitting in Benoni, the he detailed how he would grab and drag his victims to the Tsakane Cemetery, in Brakpan, where he would proceed to rape them.

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‘Graveyard rapist’: Youngest victim only seven years old

The offences were committed against four females, aged seven, 13, 16, and 32, between January 2017 and August 2019, when he was arrested.

National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) spokesperson Lumka Mahanjana said Lebele’s first victim, a seven-year-old girl, was accosted on 19 January 2017, on her way to school. Lebele targeted victims over three years.

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Previous convictions

State prosecutor Advocate Lawrence Sivhidzho told the court that Lebele had two previous convictions of theft and robbery, which he had committed in both 2015 and 2008 respectively.

Sivhidzho pleaded with the court to impose a harsher sentence as acts of violence against women and children were serious crimes.

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Only 14% of rapists convicted

In terms of report and conviction rates, it is estimated that more than 40% of South African women will be raped in their lifetime and that only one in nine rapes are reported. It is also reported that only 14% of perpetrators of rape are convicted.

Lebele’s matter was sat down for Wednesday, 19 April, for sentencing.

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Edited by Cornelia le Roux.
This article originally appeared in Pretoria Rekord and was republished with permission. Read the original article here.