EVANDER – The Evander Regional Court sentenced a Lesotho citizen to four life sentences in May.
The court found Khotso Ramalafeng guilty and sentenced him for abducting a woman from her boyfriend’s house on 19 November 2016 and then raping her throughout the night.
The victim travelled from Johannesburg to eMbalenhle that day to visit her boyfriend and was unfamiliar with the township.
The coupe bought wine and was enjoying it with their neighbour that night when they heard a knock at the door and men outside speaking Sotho.
These men threatened to kill the occupants who switched off the lights and hid inside the house.
The victim hid under a bed.
Ramalafeng and his accomplice broke a hole into the door of the house to gain access and then assaulted the neighbour with an iron pipe.
They ransacked the house and threatened to kill the boyfriend, but he fled, leaving his girlfriend alone in the house.
Ramalafeng dragged her from under the bed, and through the hole in the door to shack in Marikana section in eMbalenhle where he raped her throughout the night.
The woman testified in court Ramalafeng told her that she now belonged to him.
During the early morning hours, the woman devised a plan to escape.
She convinced Ramalafeng that she works in a local bakery and had to be at work very early, and he decided to walk her to the bus stop.
A family member of her boyfriend noticed her at the bus stop and helped her to get away.
Ramalafeng then ran away.
The boyfriend and his family had been searching for her throughout the night.
They took her to the police station to report the crime.
The woman remembered the letter and number Q7 on the door of the room she left that morning. The police accompanied the victim to Marikana where they found the particular shack.
Ramalafeng was sitting outside the shack at the time and the victim was able to immediately identify him.
When the police searched the shack, they found stolen goods, such as tekkies, that belonged to the boyfriend.
DNA evidence presented in court also linked Ramalafeng to the crime.
He was sentenced to four life imprisonments, five years for kidnapping, three years for assault and 10 years for robbery.
Ms Bimla Pillay prosecuted.
* In another case heard in the Evander Regional Court, Selby Radebe from Leandra pleaded guilty to two counts of rape committed in 2009 and 2016.
He admitted to kidnapping two women off the street and then raping them.
He was sentenced to 16 years imprisonment on Tuesday, 25 May.
Sgt Hezekiel Malapela investigated the case and Mr Bongi Matsuele was the prosecutor.
