A 29-year-old man, Lesiba Collen Tema, has been sentenced to life imprisonment by the Mahwelereng Regional Court in Limpopo for the rape of a 13-year-old girl.
The incident occurred on December 14, 2019, when Tema forcefully grabbed the victim while she was waiting for her friend near a tuck shop in Mosesetsana village.
Threatening her with a knife, he pushed her into nearby bushes where he repeatedly raped her. The victim recognized Tema during the assault.
A case of rape was opened at Mahwelereng police station and subsequently transferred to the Mokopane family violence, child protection, and sexual offences unit.
Detective Sergeant Khomotjo Rammutla conducted the investigations and successfully traced and arrested Tema a few days later.
The provincial commissioner of police in Limpopo, Lieutenant General Thembi Hadebe, welcomed the sentencing, and the court also ordered that Tema's details be entered into the national register for sexual offenders.
In another case in Limpopo, a man in his 20s, Novice Mathebula, was sentenced to life imprisonment by the Thohoyandou Regional Court for the rape and murder of a teenage girl in Giyani on Christmas Day of 2020.
The court found that Mathebula met the 15-year-old victim, who knew him, while she was celebrating with friends in Mavalani village.
He offered to buy her chips but later followed her to her place of residence and forcibly took her to a liquor establishment. Despite her pleas to let her go, Mathebula raped the girl at knifepoint and then strangled her.
He attempted to conceal the crime by dumping the body in a dam with a rock placed on top.
The body was discovered by a fisherman who immediately alerted the police.
These cases highlight the severe consequences that perpetrators of rape and sexual offences face in Limpopo, as well as the commitment of law enforcement agencies to ensure justice for the victims and hold the perpetrators accountable for their heinous crimes.
IOL