Brutal rapist jailed for 15 years
Lebogang Mosikare | Wednesday November 22, 2017 18:40
Justice Barnabas Nyamadzabo said the accused’s actions were not only totally out of sync with his Setswana name, but were also incompatible with humanity.
The Setswana word pelotlhomogi translates to compassion and its synonyms, but that Thomas' actions were an antonym of compassion. Thomas was sentenced for raping his victim at Bollatlhaga cattle post in the Central District in June 2015.
In her evidence, the complainant testified that she was a girlfriend to the accused’s uncle. “During the day in question, the victim and her siblings were coming from Dimajwe on their way to Bollatlhaga when they got a lift from the accused’s donkey cart up to a certain bus stop at Masenyana.
They completed the rest of the journey after upgrading their hiking to a vehicle after the donkey cart trip.
While the complainant and her siblings were entertaining themselves at night, her siblings disappeared and while she was waiting for them, the accused and his friend, Zapha who had apparently followed her to the yard, informed her that her boyfriend was calling her to the donkey cart that the accused came with. She followed them to the cart which was parked in the bush,” said Nyamadzabo.
The Judge said Thomas and Zapha then told the complainant that they will take her after she told them that she did not know where her sisters were.
The complainant’s sisters were Thomas and Zapha’s girlfriends. “The accused then clapped her and tripped her to the ground then removed her panty and got on top of the complainant before proceeding to have sexual intercourse with her without her consent. At that moment, Zapha cut the victim with his knife on her hands, neck and on the back.
“In addition, the accused also strangled her and she passed on only to wake up in the morning still undressed in the bush not knowing where she was,” said Nyamadzabo who added that other State witnesses corroborated what the complainant said.
When passing the sentence, Nyamadzabo said not only is rape a very serious crime, but that this one was accompanied by aggravating factors when it was committed.
“On a proper balance of the competing interests, it becomes clear that those factors that aggravate the offence substantively outweigh any available mitigating factors with the result being that a mandatory minimum sentence of 15 years of imprisonment is justified,” concluded the Judge.