AN SENTENCED TO LIFE FOR RAPING A 4-YEAR-OLD BOY
BLOEMFONTEIN: The Botshabelo Regional Court has sentenced a 40-year-old man, who was already serving two life terms, to another life imprisonment after he was convicted of raping a 4-year-old boy. Magistrate Motshidisi Khuduga sentenced Lazarus Ntipa Nkoto for an incident that happened on 17 February 2019.
On the day of the incident, Nkoto was sitting outside at the local tavern, when he saw the victim, who was staying front opposite of the tavern, getting out of the yard. He approached the complainant and forced him into a toilet and raped him.
The complainant’s mother caught Nkoto in the act and the police were called and Nkoto was arrested.
DNA samples were taken from Nkoto and he was linked to two more cases of rape in Bloemfontein. The cases were trialed in the High Court earlier in the year, and Nkoto was sentenced to two life terms. The Botshabelo case was trialled separately.
In court, Nkoto, a Lesotho national, denied being involved in the rape of the complainant even after he was linked to the crime by DNA.
In aggravation, the State Prosecutor, Patrick Koloane presented the victim impact statement facilitated by Melissa Mphulanyane in which the complainant’s mother said the incident has changed the complainant’s life because he has nightmares and his performance at school has dropped.
Koloane described Nkoto as a person who lacks remorse because he failed to take the court into his confidence and denied being involved in the rape of the complainant.
“The accused failed to show remorse because he denied raping the complainant despite overwhelming evidence against him. He was caught in the act by the mother and the DNA samples linked him to the crime, but despite all these, he still denied being involved in the crime and this is a clear indication of lack of remorse. The court should impose the minimum sentence as prescribed by law because he did not advance any compelling and substantial circumstance for imposition of a lesser sentence”
Magistrate Khuduga concurred with the prosecutor that the only appropriate sentenced she can impose if life imprisonment. She further instructed that Nkoto’s name should be included in the National Register for Sex Offenders. She also declared him unfit to possess a firearm.
