A sexual pervert who raped a woman in Letlhakeng and left her tired and injured in the bush has been jailed.
32-year-old Kabelo Lekate of Letlhakeng has been sentenced to 10 years in prison.
The accused is said to have attacked the 26-year-old woman on January 18th, 2016, around 7 am while she was on her way to work.
Lekate who seemed to have appeared from nowhere had forcefully dragged his victim to the nearby lands to rape her overnight.
It was heard in court that the victim was found very tired and barefooted after the accused had forced her to walk for a long distance and even spend the night with him under trees.
“This behaviour was also untoward because it prompted the formation of a search party for the complainant, people took turns looking for them day and night. If it was just a normal love conduct, then there would not have been a need to call an entire community to search for the two of you,” Magistrate Kefilwe Resheng said when passing judgment.
Evidence given by the victim during trial was that Lekate forced to have sex with her threatening to kill her if she did not and she feared to tell anyone she met at the lands.
“This shows that the accused had taken the victim against her will to satisfy his sexual appetite. This is shown by the many times and places under the trees and the circumstances as to where he was having sex with her, I’m not convinced that the sexual intercourse was consent as the accused person wants the court to believe,” Magistrate Resheng further observed.
The court ruled that the accused had failed to dispute the evidence of the victim and the state proved the rape case, finding the accused guilty for the offence.
In mitigation, Lekate prayed for the court to have mercy on him, as he was still a youth saying he was from a destitute family and both his parents had long died.
“May the court consider me as a reliable person, ever since the case was registered, I have never troubled the police. The case also took long as it kept on pending because of delay by prosecution,” said a remorseful looking Lekate further disclosing that he was caring for a Standard 2 child he had with the victim.
Before sending the accused to jail, Magistrate Resheng said there was no convincing extenuating circumstances therefore he should serve an effective 10 -year jail term.
