MOGAPANE VILLAGE: The Provincial Commissioner of the South African Police Service in Limpopo, Lieutenant General Nneke Ledwaba has greatly welcomed the hefty sentence imposed on criminal convicted of rapes, murder, burglary residence and armed robberies that took place at Mogapene village.
The Polokwane High Court, sentenced a 20-year-old Charles Ramafalo Mathibela to 55 years imprisonment for rape, murder, robbery with aggravating circumstances and house breaking with intent to rape.The accused was visiting his stepfather at the village in Tzaneen and on Friday, 05 July 2019, he attacked and raped one of the neighbours.
Most of the residents in the village had left for the weekend and the accused found a 45-year-old woman cooking outside.He then overpowered her and slammed her against the concrete floor until she lost consciousness. He dragged her inside her own house, stabbed her with the knife and raped her. The accused afterwards, took the victim’s cellphone, locked her inside the house and fled the scene.
The body was only discovered on Monday morning by the deceased’s daughter.The police were called and during the initial investigations, they collected circumstantial evidence from the scene of crime which linked the accused with the crimes. The accused was immediately traced and arrested on the same day at his biological mother’s house in Mogapeng village outside Lenyenye . During the arrest, the deceased’s cellphone was recovered.
He was remanded in custody from his first appearance in court until the sentencing.
*The sentences were passed as follows:*
* Twenty(20) years imprisonment for murder
* Fifteen(15) years imprisonment for rape
* Fifteen(15) years imprisonment for robbery with aggravating circumstances and Five(05) years imprisonment for house breaking with intent to rape.
The case was assigned to Detective Sergeant Gavaza Mhlongo attached to the Saps Tzaneen Detectives. She worked tirelessly around the clock to ensure justice prevailed.
