A man accused of kidnapping and raping a 12-year-old boy will remain behind bars for 23 years.
On Monday, Michael ‘Tang’ Mbhele was handed the sentence after the court found him guilty of kidnapping and rape.
On count one Mbhele was sentenced to 20 years for rape and on count two he was sentenced to three years imprisonment for kidnapping.
He committed the crimes between August 26 and 27, 2016, at Payneville.
According to the charges, the complainant was at her home in Slovo Park, when she realised her son was missing.
The woman and family members started looking for her son.
“The search continued the following day when the woman was informed by people at a tavern that her son was with a man called Tang in Payneville,” says Capt Johannes Ramphora, SAPS spokesperson.
The minor, who is believed to be mentally challenged, was found in Payneville and disclosed to the family that he had actually spent the night with the accused.
Ramphora says the child informed his mother “Tang had hit me with his fist and forced me to have sex.”
The information led to Tang’s arrest by the police on August 27, 2016.
Mbhele will serve his sentence at Modderbee Prison.
