Man gets suspended sentence for defilement
Lebogang Mosikare | Thursday February 2, 2017 15:11
Lady Luck however smiled on the accused, Mothoetsho Gabaratanelwe, after he was sentenced to seven strokes and given a non-custodial sentence.
Gabaratanelwe was also sentenced to five years in jail wholly suspended for a period of five years on condition that he does not commit any offence that has an element of sex within the same period. He committed the offence in 2012 at Monarch.
Gabaratanelwe had previously pleaded not guilty to the offence saying that he did not know that the complainant was underage when he had sex with her.
The state had argued that Gabaratanelwe knew that he was committing an offence by getting in love with the complainant because he always saw her putting on a school uniform.
When passing sentence, Basupi returned a verdict of guilty against Gabaratanelwe saying that the state had given overwhelming evidence against him.
Basupi stated that Gabaratanelwe failed to discount the state argument that he did not know that the complainant was a minor since it was clear from the evidence led by the state that he sometimes saw the complainant putting on school uniform.
Basupi said that the purpose of sentencing was not to break but to mould accused persons into responsible citizens although he was worried by the increase of incidents of sex related offences in his jurisdiction.
He said he took into consideration that the accused was a first offender when passing sentence, a factor he said worked in the accused’s favour.
“I also took into consideration that there was no huge age difference between the accused and complainant when he committed the offence. His youthfulness may have influenced him to commit the offence. The courts however, have a duty to pass sentences that would deter would-be-offenders from committing similar sentences in future,” said a visibly worried Basupi. Basupi said that the accused should learn from his mistakes and never commit a similar offence in future because the courts treat repeat offenders harshly.
At the end of sentencing the accused, Basupi advised him of his rights to appeal the conviction and sentence within 14 days at the high court.