A feared thug who dragged his neighbour out of her bed before raping the helpless woman at knifepoint faces a lengthy stretch behind bars.
Convicted of the brutal 24 October 2023 rape, Oteng Maphoi, 33, is likely to spend the next 25 years of his life locked up in a prison cell.
It could easily be more!
Although she found the suspect guilty of rape, Molepolole Magistrate, Mmamerafe Phologo explained her court did not have the power to impose a punishment beyond 20 years, something she felt the ruthless crime deserved.
Thus she ordered Maphoi be sentenced at High Court, which does posses such power.
According to the penal code, ‘where an act of rape is attended by violence resulting in injury of the victim, the person convicted of the act of rape shall be sentenced to a minimum term of 25 years imprisonment or to a maximum term of life imprisonment with or without corporal punishment’.
Court heard that on the night in question, Maphoi knocked on his 36-year-old neighbour’s front door in Tlapeng lands at around 1930hrs.
Sound asleep, she failed to open, prompting the enraged Molepolole man to barge his way inside and start insulting her for failing to answer.
He then pulled the victim outside and tripped her-up, stabbing her twice, under the breast and in the arm, as she struggled to regain her footing.
Marching her to a Mogonono tree, Maphoi forcibly undressed the defenceless, bleeding lady before raping her without a condom.
Afterwards, he returned to her house and dished food for himself, taking the meal with him.
The traumatised victim staggered to a nearby house in the area to report what had happened to her; the police were called and the neighbour took her to Kubung police post.
She was admitted to hospital, where she spent three nights.
Maphoi will spend a lot longer in prison!
Although he was arrested soon after the incident, police suspect Maphoi raped an old lady in that time, a matter for which he is set to stand trial later this year. The suspected serial rapist was linked to a third rape involving an elderly woman, but the alleged victim never reported the matter to the police out of fear.
