A ride from hell

CONTEMPLATING HIS FUTURE: Gaofise has been jailed for a decade

Man gets 10 years for raping hitchhiker

A father-of-three will spend the next ten years of his life behind bars for raping a young lady he gave a ride to back on 24th February, 2020.

Despite protesting his innocence, Mosimanegape Gaofise, 48, was found guilty of forcing himself upon a hitchhiker half his age, having earlier stopped to give her a lift from Thamaga to Chaokeng lands.

- Advertisement -

During the trial, it was heard Gaofise spotted the woman, 24, hiking by the side of the road. He asked her how much she was willing to pay for a ride to the lands and was unimpressed when she replied, ‘P10’.

Along the way, he angrily repeated the question, with the young lady this time saying she would give him P50. Gaofise reportedly responded that if she did not have any cash, he would accept payment through sex instead.

However, as they approached the Kobokwe stop, Gaofise suddenly made a u-turn, driving back to Thamaga.

On the outskirts of the village, he stopped the car, went round to the passenger’s side and strangled the victim.

Court heard that he then inserted a condom on his manhood and raped the lady. It is said Gaofise threatened to put her in his car boot and cross the border with her if she refused his sexual advances.

Having satisfied his evil desires, he threw the condom away, allegedly telling the victim that, if she was ‘nice to him’, he would drop her home later.

- Advertisement -

The woman’s ordeal ended when she asked Gafoise to take her for a drink and managed to escape at a bar he drove her to. She quickly alerted the police, who duly found a used condom discarded at the crime scene.

At one point in the case, it was said the victim received a mysterious phone call, with the voice on the other side offering her P20,000 to drop the matter ‘for the sake of the accused’s family’.

In his defence, Gaofise claimed the woman, whom he described as sex-starved and wet, blackmailed him, threatening to report him for rape if he didn’t pay her P2,000.

He accused her of later demanding P35,000.

He further told Molepolole Magistrates’ Court the complainant stopped him while in the middle of the road and started seducing him.

- Advertisement -

Having been found guilty, Gaofise expressed remorse during mitigation, noting he would not waste the court’s time.

“I have three children and another four from my late younger sibling that I am taking care of; may the court kindly consider that I am a bread winner,” was his brief address.

His plea for mercy failed to move Magistrate Keabetswe Majuta, however, as she sent Gaofise to the slammer for a decade.

“The offence of rape is very serious and highly prevalent in Kweneng District. The accused did not have convincing extenuating circumstances. I therefore sentence him to 10 years imprisonment,” concluded Majuta, much to the convicted rapist’s despair.

Leave a comment