25 Aug 2016

The Divisional Commander for Northern Division Ms Dinah Marathe said rape crime was one of the leading crime in Letlhakane and surrounding settlements.

Speaking during  a campaign against rape in Letlhakane recently,  she said while different areas of the country were individually affected by different types and levels of crime,  Letlhakane policing had not been spared.

Ms Marathe said one of the most disturbing intrusive and violent crime in the area was rape as the police statistics recorded  showed  that in 2014 Letlhakane police station recorded a total of 52 rape cases,74 cases in 2015 and total of 49 and 70 suspects were arrested while to date a total  of 47 cases of this offence had already been recorded since January 2016 and 39 suspects were arrested.

She noted that a total of 12 defilement cases were recorded in 2014 and the same number was recorded in 2015 and 10 cases recorded from January 2016 to date and 34 suspects were arrested.

She added that although a lot of initiatives  have be undertaken to address the problem, the issue had not subsided.

Ms Marathe said they discovered that most of the perpetrators were people with some form of relationship with the victims, adding that  most of the affected victim's age rangedbetween  10 and 40yrs .

Ms Marathe also  said  it was unsettling to know that a person one may had grown to love and trust later turned out to be the same person who inflicted pain and bring misery to an unsuspecting victim. Ends