Rustenburg - A 26-year-old man was sentenced to three life terms in jail for the rape and murder of a four-year-old girl in Taung.
Bafana Johannes Mans was sentenced at the North West High Court sitting in Vryburg on Wednesday for the kidnapping, double rape and murder of Tshimologo Lotshabeng.
Mans was arrested at his residential place in Jan Kempdorp in the Northern Cape after the lifeless and naked body of Tshimologo was found in the bushes at Kgomotso village, near Taung, on May 16 in 2021, North West police spokesperson, Colonel Adele Myburgh, said in a statement.
"According to evidence presented before the court, Mans was a colleague and one of the people who accompanied Tshimologo’s mother from a tavern to her friend’s house. He waited until the mother fell asleep, then kidnapped the child and took her to the nearby bushes, where he raped and killed her. He was denied bail upon his first court appearance on Monday, 24 May 2021. As a result, has been in custody since his arrest."
Myburgh said in aggravation of sentence, advocate Xolisile Philisane urged the court not to deviate from the minimum prescribed sentence as the offence was committed on a helpless minor.
Philisane further argued that the accused showed no remorse for his actions as he failed to take a stand and apologise to the family of the deceased.
Mans was sentenced to life imprisonment on a court of murder, life each in two courts of rape and five years imprisonment on a court of kidnapping.
The sentence would run concurrently, meaning he would serve only one life term in jail.
The police management and the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) welcomed the sentence meted down to Mans.
North West Director of Public Prosecutions, Dr Makhari-Sekhaolaleo, lauded the collaboration between the South African Police Service and the NPA in bringing the perpetrator to book.
She said this would illustrate the advocacy of the criminal justice system in dealing with those who act against the protection of women, children and the elderly.
North West provincial commissioner, Lieutenant General Sello Kwena, commended the investigating officer, Colonel Kgosi Dihemo and the prosecutor, Advocate Xolisile Philisane, as well as other role players for their tireless and joint efforts that led to the conviction, which he said would certainly serve as a deterrence to those who violate and take innocent lives of women and children.
IOL