Herdboy gets 10 years for rape

Lebogang Baingapi | Thursday March 17, 2016 14:57

 

On Thursday Baakanyang was shocked to learn that he will spend a decade behind bars after being convicted.  

According to court records, on October 1, 2013 at Lobutse settlement, the then accused had asked the complainant to accompany him, before he grabbed her by the neck on the way to a nearby dam.

The court learnt that Baakanyang also assaulted the complainant with a stick and asked her if she had ever seen a person having sex with a dead person.

“He asked her to undress and hold (put her hands) against a mokoro before he raped her,” Keakantse said, as she read the judgment.

The records also state that a defence witness, Lebogang Baakanyang spotted a plastic bag near the road before she met the accused and the complainant, who later claimed it was theirs.  After parting ways with the accused, Lebogang noticed a distressed look on the complainant’s face who broke into tears when asked what the matter was.  The complainant later revealed to Lebogang that the accused had intercourse with her without her consent.

Baakanyang, who denied the rape alleged that he was having a sexual affair with the complainant who is another man’s wife.  However, Baakanyang’s claim failed to pass as a convincing argument to Keakantse who handed down the minimum rape sentence.

Keakantse noted that the elements of rape entailed evidence of non-consensual intercourse.  The magistrate argued that the reporting of the incident was made at the earliest possible time and signs of violence were satisfied as lead evidence by the complainant.

Though the accused‘s defence was that they were dating and that they used to have sex at the said dam when the complainant’s husband was home, Keakantse was of the view that the intercourse was in fact non-consensual.

The accused also made claims that he did not use violence against the complainant as she bended over on the mokoro at the dam because she was wearing white and he could not recall Lebogang asking the complainant why she was crying.

The magistrate said injuries sustained by the complainant, her distressed face, the crying, and the luggage left by the roadside are convincing that the two did not agree to have sex.

In his mitigation, Baakanyang told the court that he lives with his elderly parents whose livestock he  takes care of.

Baakanyang was treated as a first offender after denying knowledge of his outdated previous convictions, which include causing unlawful wounding to a person and received three strokes before the Sese Customary Court in 2005.

Keakantse mentioned that there were no extenuating circumstances that will render the imposition of the minimum statutory sentence inappropriate and the 10-year jail sentence will serve the ends of justice.