Limpopo-based journalist Thomo Nkgadima spent Christmas in jail after being arrested for trespassing.Photo by iStock Images
- The Groblersdal Regional Court sentenced a Limpopo man, who raped a teenager in 2020, to 10 years in prison.
- Collins Modiegi Dansie Matlala, 24, threatened the 18-year-old with a knife while he dragged her to an abandoned house where he raped her.
- The Bloemfontein Regional Court also sentenced an inmate who raped another prisoner to life in jail.
A man who was stabbed by a teenager after he raped her and fell asleep will spend a decade behind bars.
Collins Modiegi Dansie Matlala, 24, was sentenced in the local regional court following his conviction for the 2020 attack in Groblersdal, Limpopo, during which he dragged the 18-year-old woman into an abandoned house after threatening her with a knife while she walked along the R579.
Provincial NPA spokesperson Mashudu Malabi-Dzhangi said Matlala, who was known to the teenager, sent her a message asking her to accompany him to see his brother.
On their way there, he grabbed her and dragged her to an abandoned house, where he threatened her with a knife and raped her. Malaba-Dzhangi said Matlala “became relaxed” and put the knife on the floor next to the woman, who grabbed it and stabbed him in his chest before she escaped.
She sought help at a nearby house.
READ | Life sentence welcomed for prisoner who raped fellow inmate
Sergeant Alfred Mphahlele from the Groblersdal Family Violence, Child Protection and Sexual Offences Unit was assigned to the case and collared the suspect shortly after police were called to the scene.
The rapist was linked to the case through his DNA.
Malabi-Dzhangi said half of Matlala’s sentence is suspended on condition that he is not convicted of the same crime during the 10 years.
Meanwhile, the Bloemfontein Regional Court in the Free State sentenced inmate Jeffrey Bona, 42, to life imprisonment for raping a prisoner in the Mangaung Correctional Facility in 2021.
Regional NPA spokesperson Mojalefa Senokaotsane said Bona raped the inmate on several occasions before he reported the incident.
Senokaotsane said the court found no grounds to issue a lesser sentence for Bona, who had shown no remorse for the crime and posed a danger to the community.
“The conviction and sentence confirm the commitment of the National Prosecuting Authority to continue the fight against any form of crime, whether committed by the public or persons already in prison,” said Senokaotsane.