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THE NORTHERN Cape acting provincial commissioner, Major-General Henriette de Waal, welcomed the recent sentences handed down in the Postmasburg Regional Court to two rapists, in separate cases, at a time when the country is advocating against gender-based violence.
Police spokesperson Colonel Mashay Gamieldien said that in the first case, a 23-year-old man, Dwayne Pieterse, was sentenced to a combined 35 years for the rape of a 10-year-old boy.
“Pieterse was sentenced to 15 years’ imprisonment for rape, 15 years for rape with a bottle neck and a further five years for assault after he sexually assaulted and raped a 10-year-old boy on June 18, 2017 in a veld near Lohatlha,” said Gamieldien.
In the second case, a 34-year-old man, Patrick Legodu, received a life imprisonment sentence for the rape of a 20-year-old woman.
“The incident occurred at about 11pm in a cemetery on September 29, 2017. The accused raped the complainant in the cemetery in Danielskuil then took her to a shack where he raped her for a second time,” said Gamieldien.
“The accused was also linked by DNA to a separate rape case, where a 26-year-old woman was raped in a veld in Kuilsville on January 1, 2017.
“The accused received life imprisonment for the two rape cases.”
Gamieldien said that the provincial head of the Family Violence, Child Protection and Sexual Offences unit in the Northern Cape, Brigadier Nicky Mills, applauded the two investigating officers for securing “outstanding sentences which led to the incarceration of the two perpetrators of such heinous crimes”.