Palapye serial rapist found guilty again

Bonte Seepi | Wednesday February 4, 2015 11:01

 

He is said to have brutally raped two women and walked away with their panties in the latest case. Chief magistrate, Rebecca Motsamai, said the prosecution had proved its case beyond reasonable doubt. She said evidence given by the seven prosecution witnesses in the case was consistent. She found that Bofitile did not distance himself from the crime scene and he did not dispute having used violence on the two complainants. He also failed to dispute witnesses testimony. “Even the DNA samples which were taken from the complainants by the medical doctor were similar to that of the accused. Therefore, the court has found out that evidence from the state against the complainant is beyond reasonable doubt,” said the magistrate.

In the first of the two cases, Bofitile was accused of assaulted two middle-aged women from Khurumela ward on December 30, 2011. One woman eventually escaped but he dragged the other to a bush near Lotsane River where he raped her. In addition Motsamai noted that Bofitile then took the complainant’s panty and left. In the second incident, on March 17 2013, he accosted two women from Khurumela ward and demanded money using violence. One gave him P50 and a cell phone while the other said she did not have money. The accused then forcibly ordered the two women to accompany him to the bush near Lotsane River. One of the two women escaped while the one who remained was raped by Bofitile.

Sergeant Ditsapelo Emmanuel from Palapye Police Station, who was prosecuting the matter, said that the state is not ready with the accused’s previous convictions. He then applied that the accused be fingerprinted and be taken to the doctor for an HIV test. “He will appear in court on February 9 for sentencing,” said the magistrate. Bofitile is already serving a 10-year jail term for rape. He committed the latest offences while on bail for the other rape case he was initially convicted of.