Serial rapist gets 25 years as more cases await trial
Pini Bothoko | Tuesday August 11, 2026 06:00
Principal Magistrate Tshoganetso Atlamelang handed down the sentence last week after convicting Tebogo Morapedi for raping and robbing a 20-year-old woman in Mahalapye.
The court heard that in the early hours of September 12, 2024, at around 2 am, Morapedi broke into the victim's home at Mowana ward whilst she was asleep.
He allegedly attacked and raped her whilst threatening to kill her before stealing her mobile phone and fleeing the scene.
Court proceedings further revealed that Morapedi still has four rape cases pending before the courts.
According to information presented in court, Morapedi allegedly attacked and raped the victims before disappearing without leaving any immediate trace.
However, investigators later linked him to the offences through DNA evidence, which proved instrumental in connecting him to the separate cases.
The latest conviction is not Morapedi's first encounter with the law for sexual offences.
Court records show that he was previously convicted of rape by Gaborone’s Extension II Magistrate’s Court in 2012. He served a five-year prison sentence before being released in 2017.
His criminal record did not end there. In October last year, he was sentenced to three years' imprisonment for burglary and stealing from a dwelling house, an offence committed in 2023.
Morapedi's arrest is believed to have brought some relief to investigators in Mahalapye, who had for several years grappled with a wave of rape cases involving women and girls.
Between 2022 and 2024, police recorded numerous sexual assault cases in which suspects often remained unidentified and at large.
Investigators suspect Morapedi may have been responsible for several of those unsolved attacks, particularly after DNA evidence linked him to multiple rape cases.
Police have also observed a noticeable decline in similar rape incidents in the Mahalapye area since his arrest, further strengthening their suspicions that he may have been behind a number of the offences.
The four pending rape cases against Morapedi are expected to proceed through the courts.
In order to curb and prevent sexual offences, in 2023 Botswana increased penalties against sexual offences, but, despite this, sexual offences, especially rape, continue to rise.