Staff Reporter
The Bloemfontein Regional Court has sentenced a 21-year-old after-school study centre tutor to life imprisonment after he was found guilty of raping a nine-year-old boy.
National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) regional spokesperson Phaladi Shuping said in a statement the court sentenced Mothusi Matladi for rape and sexual assault that happened on November 13, 2019 at the centre.
He said Matladi pleaded not guilty to rape and guilty to a charge of sexual assault.
“In his plea to a charge of sexual assault, he admitted that he had given the complainant a so-called ‘wedgie’, in that he pulled upwards the underwear of the complainant between his buttocks and in so doing he indirectly touched his private parts,” said Shuping.
The complainant, according to Shuping, testified that he got three of these wedgies at different locations in the centre from Matladi on the day of the incident.
Matladi later called the complainant to the bathroom, ordered him to take off his pants and underwear and inserted his finger into his anus.
“Later that night, the complainant told his mother what Matladi had done to him and the mother laid criminal charges after meeting the owner of the centre,” Shuping said.
In aggravation of sentence, state prosecutor Advocate Louis York presented a victim impact statement in which the mother stated that the complainant’s performance at school has dropped and that he also has anger issues because he is constantly fighting with his older brother as well as her.
York further said that the actions of the accused were premeditated in that he started by giving the complainant wedgies and thereafter called him into the bathroom where he could be alone with the complainant and sexually penetrate him.
Sentencing the accused, Magistrate OR Majosi said that the accused failed to convince the court that there were substantial and compelling circumstances for the court not to impose life imprisonment on him.
In the absence of such circumstances, he sentenced Matladi to life imprisonment for rape and two years for sexual assault.
Majosi further ordered that Matladi’s name be included in the National Register of Sex Offenders.