22 Sep 2020

Jwaneng magistrate, Ms Caroline Kataba has informed rape accused, Keleabetswe Beng that even in the Kingdom of God, sinners are duly punished for their sins.

This was after Beng, who is accused of raping an 11-year-old girl near Pitseng in December 2017, had indicated during mitigation that he had since been born again and was now a child of God.

The accused also informed the court that during the committal of the offence, he was under the influence of alcohol, and that should the court find him guilty, it should consider the sentence to run from the time he was incarcerated, saying he was held for a substantial time.

In her sentence however, Ms Kataba said rape was one of the most serious offences under the penal code, as seen by the fact that it was one of the few offences whose sentences were not allowed to run concurrently to any.

“There has been a public outcry on gender based violence (GBV) cases in Botswana and society is beginning to lose confidence in our legal system regarding such matters. 

It believes we are too lenient on the perpetrators,” she said, indicating a need to be sterner. 

Ms Kataba also indicated that the fact that the offence was committed against a then 11-year-old child, who knew the accused and expected protection from him instead of violation, did not elude the court.

She said that after raping the child, Beng attempted another rape the same night, but was only let down by his failure to get an erection, adding that had it not been for that failure, he would have gone on to rape his second victim of the night.

“So with such facts, the court is convinced that the accused is a sex pervert, who should be given a chance to rehabilitate behind bars,” she said, before sentencing Beng to 10 years in prison. 

She also said that as with rape cases, the sentence would run consecutive to any matter he may be serving now or in the future.

Ms Kataba also said that the sentence would run from the date of sentencing and not the time the accused was remanded as he had pleaded.

Meanwhile, Beng was also sentenced to four years for theft of a cellphone, but was lucky to have the sentence wholly suspended on condition that he does not commit a similar offence in the same number of years. Ends