The Kroonstad Regional Court in the Free State has sentenced a 38-year-old man to life imprisonment for raping and robbing elderly women between 2012 and 2018. Mofihli Tshabalala’s crimes against the women, aged between 60 and 78, were characterised by intimidation and the use of a knife. He deliberately targeted elderly, vulnerable women in the Maokeng area.
The South African Police Service (Saps) said DNA linked Tshabalala to all the cases against him. On the first incident, the court heard that a 78-year-old victim was on her way home from tending to her cattle near Maokeng on 19 July 2017, at about 10am. Tshabalala, a man unknown to her, suddenly approached her and pulled her to a tree in the open field.
“He took out a knife and told her to keep quiet, or he would kill her,” Saps said in a statement on Friday. “He instructed the complainant to undress, and then he raped her. After the incident, he left her there and ran away.” In a separate incident, a 70-year-old woman told the court that she was returning home with a friend after chopping wood at around 11.30am on 21 June 2012, when Tshabalala approached them.
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Tshabalala, a stranger to them, tried to fight the friend, but the friend ran away. Saps said he then took out a knife and told the woman to be quiet, or he would kill her.
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