Elandskraal man gets life imprisonment for raping 90-year-old granny

Groblersdal

The Groblersdal Regional Court has on Tuesday 27 February handed down a life imprisonment sentence to a 35-year-old man, Ephraim Matshela Madiba, who was accused of raped and assault of a 90-year-old woman.

During the trial, the court heard that on 31 July 2022, the accused broke into the house of an elderly woman at Elandskraal Village outside Marble Hall and found a panga in the victim’s bedroom, where he used the object to assault her before raping her and thereafter fled the scene with the said panga.

Colonel Malesela Ledwaba, Limpopo Provincial Police Spokesperson, said the police were alerted about the incident and they opened cases of rape and assault with intent to cause Grievous Bodily Harm (GBH).

“The victim was taken to local hospital for medical treatment. The rape case was transferred to Mokopane Family Violence, Child Protection and Sexual Offences Unit and assigned to Sergeant Lesetja Langa for further investigation,” explained Ledwaba.

He said the suspect was traced and arrested and the police also recovered the panga which was used to assault the victim with blood stains.

“The accused was sentenced to life imprisonment for rape and 24 months imprisonment for Assault GBH. The sentences will be served concurrently.

Lieutenant General Thembi Hadebe, Provincial Commissioner of the Police in Limpopo, praised the investigating officer and his team for ensuring that perpetrators are removed from the society and kept in jail.

“We welcome the life sentence and we are glad that justice was finally served,” said Hadebe.

Meanwhile the Groblersdal Regional Court has recently convicted and sentenced a 68-year-old man to twenty years imprisonment for raping his 7-year-old granddaughter.

During the trial, the court heard that during the incident that occurred in March 2023, the accused, who cannot be named to protect the identity of the victim, would wait for the granddaughter’s mother to leave the house and go to her bedroom and rape her.

“The incident took place several times until the victim reported the matter to her mother who took her to the doctor for medical examination. The mother further reported the matter to the police and the accused was arrested and charged with rape,” said Colonel Ledwaba.

He said the case was assigned to Detective Sergeant Pebetse Maile of Groblersdal Family Violence, Child Protection and Sexual Offenses Unit and the accused was granted bail after appearing several times before Groblersdal Magistrate’s Court.

“On Monday 19 February 2024, the accused was ultimately sentenced to 20 years direct imprisonment by the Groblersdal Regional Court,” said Ledwaba.

Once again, Limpopo Provincial Police Commissioner Hadebe has applauded the investigating officer for the diligent work. She further stressed that the police remains committed to vigorously fighting the scourge of gender-based violence in the province.