A 28-year-old Limpopo man has been sentenced to two life terms by the Mahwelereng Regional Court for raping and killing a 70-year-old woman in Ga-Magongoa village.
The court ruled that the sentences will run concurrently.
Tebogo Gwangwa pleaded guilty to the charges and admitted that on July 15, 2023, he entered the home of the deceased, who owed him R20 for scones.
"He forcefully removed her clothing and raped her. Fearing that she had recognised him, he throttled her to death," said the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) spokesperson in Limpopo, Mashudu Malabi-Dzhangi.
Malabi-Dzhangi said Gwangwa was arrested in August 2024.
"During sentencing, State prosecutor Morris Thanyane argued that the accused violated the deceased’s right to life and dignity, exploiting her vulnerability as an elderly woman. He emphasised that the crime occurred in the victim’s own home, a place where she should have been safest," explained Malabi-Dzhangi.
Malabi-Dzhangi said Gwangwa initially denied the charges, however, he pleaded guilty after DNA evidence linked him to the crime.
"Thanyane urged the court to impose the prescribed minimum sentence of life imprisonment, as there were no substantial or compelling reasons to justify a lesser sentence," she said.
In another similar case, the Worcester Regional Court has sentenced a 50-year-old child rapist to life imprisonment and ordered that his name be entered into the National Register for Sex Offenders and the Child Protection Register.
He was also declared unfit to possess a firearm.
The State is not naming the accused as he was a close friend of the 10-year-old victim’s family and naming him may directly or indirectly identify her.
Regional Court prosecutor Elton Willemse led evidence that on the evening of November 25, 2017, the victim’s mother left her (victim) and her brother in the care of the accused’s wife while she was out to look for her husband.
At the time they were staying at Droeheuwel, Robertson.
During the night, the victim, her brother and the accused’s son slept at the bottom part of the bed while the accused and his wife slept at the top part of the bed. While asleep, she felt someone pulling down her underwear and when she woke up, she saw that it was the accused.
She asked him what he was doing and threatened to tell her father about what he was doing. He instructed her to remain still, but she screamed and cried, attempting to make him stop or for someone to help her, but he raped her.
His wife woke up later and found the victim and her brother sitting on the couch waiting for the wife to take them home. When they got home, the victim asked her father to call the police because the accused raped her.