GQEBERHA - The abuse of women and children in whatever form is a crime and perpetrators must be identified, arrested, found guilty and sentenced.
During last week, the Family Violence Child Protection and Sexual Offences Unit in Gqeberha, through their thorough investigations ensured prison sentences for perpetrators of child abandonment and rape in three separate incidents.
On Friday, 8 April 2022, a 24-year-old Helenvale mother was sentenced to imprisonment for child abandonment after she abandoned her 11-month-old child on a pavement in February 2022. On 02 February 2022, at 13:45, Muriel Kayser left her baby in front of a house in Harry Trichardt Street in Cleary Park. When a resident came home, she observed movement on the pavement and upon closer inspection, found the baby girl. The child was sun burnt and severely dehydrated.
The FCS Unit in Gqeberha was investigating the case of child abandonment. On 21 February 2022, Detective Sergeant Thabang Shilajoe traced and arrested the mother at her boyfriend’s house in Hartebeest Street in Helenvale.
On 08 April 2022, she was sentenced in the Gqeberha Regional court to 8 years imprisonment of which 3 years was suspended for 5 years. She will serve an effective 5 years in prison.
In another breakthrough, a 37-year-old rape accused was sentenced to 10 years imprisonment for raping a 20-year-old woman after she boarded a taxi in Kwazakele on 04 June 2020. The woman was taken to Brighton Beach where she was raped by the taxi driver. After her ordeal, the accused, Vuyolwethu Ngolo drove off with her and was later stopped by a military vehicle as he was driving recklessly. The woman managed to report the rape to them. A passing police vehicle was flagged down and the accused was apprehended.
On Friday, 08 April 2022, he was sentenced in the Gqeberha Regional Court to 10 years imprisonment. The case was investigated by Detective Sergeant Luzuko Pehlo from FCS Unit in Gqeberha.
Rape accused, Theo Sakasa (29) from Walmer will spend the next 25 years in prison for raping a 16-year-old teenager in November 2017. On 27 November 2017 at 23:45, the teenager and an elderly man were in a taxi when the taxi driver stopped at a tavern in Walmer to look for his girlfriend. He left the taxi idling and went inside. When he returned, he found that the taxi was gone.
The accused exited the tavern, jumped into the idling vehicle and drove off. He shoved the elderly man out of the taxi and drove to nearby bushes where he raped the teenager.
Two days later, Detective Sergeant Kelibone Mokhatla arrested Sakasa at the taxi rank in central. It was later established that Sakasa was out on parole for a previous rape. He remained in custody until the finalisation of the case.
On Wednesday, 06 April 2022, he was sentenced to 25 years imprisonment in the Gqeberha Regional Court.
The Acting Nelson Mandela Bay District Commissioner, Brigadier Thandiswa Kupiso applauded the excellent sentencing and reiterated that, ‘these convictions demonstrate the dedication of our investigators in resolving these types of crimes. The relentless efforts by our FCS units and the justice system in exercising thorough investigations and prosecutions are effective when perpetrators are found guilty and sentenced.’
Source: South African Police Service