Police management in North West say the double life imprisonment handed to Tatlhego Dire by the Ditsobotla Regional Court should send a strong message to perpetrators of gender-based violence.
Dire was convicted for crimes committed in 2011 and 2013. Police say in the 2011 incident, he stabbed the victim and chased her friend away before dragging her to another location where he raped her.
In 2013, Dire attacked a woman who was walking with her boyfriend in Mareetsane. He struck the boyfriend with a steel pipe. After the boyfriend fled, Dire dragged the victim and raped her.
Acting provincial police commissioner Dr Ryno Naidoo has welcomed the sentence.
Police say in a separate case, Motseonageng Phakedi has been sentenced to life imprisonment by the same court for the rape of a 10-year-old girl in 2018.
Phakedi reportedly chased the victim’s friends away with a sjambok in Mooifontein before dragging the child to his residence where he raped her.
Police say the sentences reflect the justice system’s stance against gender-based violence.
