A Ventersdorp rapist, murderer and thief paid a huge price for murdering a lesbian in August last year.
24-year-old Stoffel Botlhokwane showed no remorse during the High Court sitting in Potchefstroom Magistrates Court on 20 May. Judge Kruger showed no mercy when he found Stoffel guilty of the murder and rape of 24-year-old Disebo Gift Makau, a well-loved lesbian. He sentenced the accused to two life sentences for rape and murder plus a further 15 years for theft. The sentences will run concurrently.
The gallery was packed to capacity with members of the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) community who have been standing by the family and for the rights of the LGBT members since the murder. They welcomed the sentence and wielded placards calling for “hate crime legislation now.”
Speaking to the Herald, Kokeletso Legoete, media coordinator of the human rights NGO, Iranti-org, said this heavy sentence should send a very clear message to those criminals who commit murders based on sexual orientation.
“We must be treated equally and not be victimised for being gays and lesbians,” she said.
Makau was brutally murdered just outside her home in Ventersdorp on 15 August, allegedly for her sexual orientation. She was last seen that night, at a nearby tavern with the accused.
Stoffel was a childhood friend and classmate of Gift. Her half-naked body was found in a pool of water. She had been strangled to death with a hosepipe shoved down her throat as published in the Herald of 22 August.
Her death brought pain, not only to the family but to the entire community and various organisations in the country. Gift was a student at Vuselela College in Potchefstroom last year.
