Woman�s 10-year sentence for defiling boy upheld

Lebogang Mosikare | Wednesday June 7, 2017 16:55

 

The High Court ruled that it found nothing wrong with the sentence given to Gone Bathamile by the magistrate who found Bathamile guilty of the offence.

Bathamile was 19 years old while the complainant was aged 15 when the offence happened in Serowe in 2012.

She approached the High Court appealing against her conviction and sentence, which she said were extreme and excessive. But Justice Zibani Makhwade ruled that in his considered view, the sentence was consistent with the offence committed. Bathamile’s grounds of appealing were that the state had not proved beyond reasonable doubt that the complainant was young or over 16-years-old when the offence allegedly occurred.

According to the particulars of the offence, Bathamile was employed by the complainant’s parents as a maid in Serowe in 2012. The offence happened after the victim visited his parents in Serowe during the school holidays.After the complainant arrived in Serowe from Orapa, he found out that Bathamile was employed as a maid by his parents. Because there were not enough rooms to cater for everyone to sleep, Bathamile and the victim shared a bedroom, and apparently an illicit love relationship between the duo developed.

They ended up having sex, which resulted in Bathamile falling pregnant and later giving birth to the complainant’s child. After falling pregnant, Bathamile’s employers asked her who impregnated her, but shockingly she told them that their child was the father.

The matter was then reported to the police after Bathamile revealed who impregnated her. The recent ruling has ended the freedom of Bathamile who was given bail by Makhwade at the beginning of April 2017.