POLOKWANE – A 39-year-old man was sentenced to a long jail term by the Polokwane High Court after he was found guilty of rape and two incidents of attempted rape that occurred during 2015 and 2017 respectively.
According to police spokesperson, Col Moatshe Ngoepe, the accused who resided near Senwabarwana in the Seshego policing precinct, was sentenced to an effective 22 years imprisonment for rape plus an additional five years imprisonment for attempted rape.
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The long term incarceration follows two separate incidents which occurred in Marapong outside Lephalale.
The first incident involves a nine-year-old girl who the accused would prey on whenever she would visit her aunt and raped her since 2015. “The accused threatened the victim and told her that if she told anyone, he would hurt her.”
In 2017, the accused followed a 10-year-old girl into the bedroom of her aunt, whom he was romantically involved with, and attempted to rape her. The victim put up a fight and managed to free herself and ran away. She then divulged the ordeal to her aunt who immediately reported the matter to the police.
“The accused also attempted to rape and later raped another nine-year-old girl in the same area,” Ngoepe explained.
Meanwhile, the Lephalale Regional Court sentenced Alebele Alpheus Lutolo (31) to life imprisonment for raping a mentally ill woman in 2013.
“The accused was walking from a local tavern when he dragged the victim to the nearby bushes and raped her before he fled the scene. The Police were notified and reacted swiftly which led to the apprehension of this criminal within a month,” Ngoepe explained.
He was positively linked to the crime and he remained in police custody with no bail until his sentencing day arrived.
Provincial Commissioner of the South African Police Service in Limpopo, Lieutenant General Nneke Jim Ledwaba has welcomed these heavy jail terms.
Ledwaba also commended the investigation team which handled these cases from the Lephalale Cluster Family Violence, Child Protection and Sexual Offences(FCS) Unit.
“The incarceration of this hooligan will bring relief to communities and vulnerable groups throughout the province, especially the affected families of the two victims, because the accused will no longer be associated with society indefinitely,” concluded General Ledwaba.
