Girlfriend’s murder over P200 earns man 18-year jail term
Innocent Selatlhwa | Wednesday July 2, 2025 06:00
The killing followed a fight in which the accused wanted to recover the P200 he had given to the deceased. Thelo was also slapped with five years behind bars for assault occasioning actual bodily harm on Sebetso’s aunt, Janeup Sebetso. The two sentences will run concurrently. Thelo had pleaded guilty to the two charges and the court convicted him accordingly. He would then motivate submissions on extenuation through his attorney Enock Mazonde.
When delivering the sentence, Motlhabi said the court undertook a searching exercise and from the admitted facts came up with the following:
There was lack of any calculated plan by Thelo to kill Goitseone (Sebetso); There was possible provocation arising from an unauthorsed use of Thelo’s money by Goitseone; and that it has not been proven to court, that the alcohol consumed, had no influence on the mind of Thelo at the time of committing the offence “a defined degree of intoxication” is not “required to constitute an extenuating factor”.
“The court weighed the above factors in a balancing exercise and came to the conclusion that 'the value judgment scale tilts in favour of the extenuating circumstances'. It is the cumulative effect and not the individual effect of these factors which has a bearing on the court’s direction. To sum up, there are extenuating circumstances in this case,” Motlhabi said.
In mitigation, Mazonde stated that this was the first conviction relating to death and violence, and that the past six convictions were not for violence- related offences. He also submitted that Thelo and Goitseone were fighting in the dark, thus depriving him of the ability to see where he was hitting her.
“A prolonged imprisonment would impact negatively on the child, Thelo has with Goitseone, because after the death of Goitseone, Thelo became the provider for the family,” Mazonde submitted.
Motlhabi stated that being had of the mandatory minimum 15 years imprisonment, introduced by the Amendment of Section 203 of the Penal Code in 2018.
“This court is beseeched to impose a sentence lower than the 15 years imprisonment,” he said.
Motlhabi said the court took into account the escalation in crimes perpetrated against women, and the need to have that situation abated.
“This court cannot move away from the prevailing trends on sentencing in cases involving violence against women, unless there are exceptional circumstances, as contemplated by the penal code,” he said.
Motlhabi said Thelo failed to show any exceptional circumstances, which can persuade the court to depart from the prevailing trends on sentencing, in cases involving violence against women.
After consideration of the facts surrounding the case and the applicable law, Thelo was sentenced to 18 years for murder and five years for the assault. The sentences are to run concurrently, taking into account any imprisonment period he served pre- and post-conviction.