The Sebokeng Magistrate’s Court sentenced an illegal Lesotho national to two life sentences plus 25 years for several counts of kidnaping and rape.
Tshepo Masaleng, an illegal immigrant from Lesotho, was sentenced to two life sentences plus 25 years for four counts of rape and kidnapping girls aged 13, 14, 16, and a woman who was 18 at the time.
According to Lumka Mahanjana, the Gauteng regional spokesperson the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA), said the presiding magistrate also ordered that Masaleng’s name be added on the National Register for Sexual Offenders. He was also declared unfit to possess a firearm.
“On April 29, 2016, while the 18-year-old girl was walking from school to visit her aunt in Sebokeng, she met Masaleng. He introduced himself with a false name and proposed love and when the complainant refused, he pointed something at her which looked like a firearm, and forced her into an old building where he raped her,” said Mahanjana.
“After the rape, he accompanied her to where she was going and told her not to tell anyone. On arrival at her aunt’s place, she told her older male cousin what happened. He then took her to the police station to report the matter.”
In a separate incident, on December 15, 2018, three minors met Masaleng when they were on their way to church in the evening.
“He asked them where they were going and when one of the girls tried to run, he told them he had a weapon they cannot outrun. He instructed them to walk with him until they reached an abandoned building next to Thabong Mall. He told them to strip naked and face the wall, whereby he proceeded to rape them one by one,” said Mahanjana.
“When he was done, he told them to stop walking alone at night. While running to the church they met a woman whom they told about the incident. The woman called the pastor of the church where the minors were going. At church the pastor called the police, who took them to the police station for medical examination.”
Source: Times Live, The South African, The Citizen, IOL, image from Times Live: Thuli Dlamini