The Sekgosese Regional Court in Limpopo sentenced 26-year-old Mojalefa Stoffel Sebashe to 15 years imprisonment after convicting him for the 2019 murder of his girlfriend.
The brutally murdered woman was aged 28, according to Limpopo police spokesperson, Brigadier Hlulani Mashaba.
“The court heard that on the evening of December 2, 2019, the accused (Sebashe) strangled his girlfriend at his parental homestead, at Senwamokgope, Vaalwater Village and thereafter dumped her body in the nearby bushes,” said Mashaba.
The court heard that the slain woman’s body was discovered by a community member the following day, in the morning.
Police were then summoned to the scene and upon arrival, they opened a case of murder and started with investigations.
Mashaba said that when an investigating officer was appointed, Sebashe was arrested in connection with the murder shortly afterwards, but the case against him was provincially withdrawn pending further police investigations.
“The accused made several court appearances until he was ultimately convicted and sentenced to 15 years direct imprisonment on Tuesday, November 22,” said Mashaba.
Meanwhile, Limpopo provincial commissioner of police, Lieutenant General Thembi Hadebe has welcomed Sebashe’s conviction and sentencing.
She emphasised that gender-based violence and femicide “have no place in our society”.
Earlier this year, IOL reported that police in Limpopo expressed concern about the rampant acts of gender-based violence, in which several people were killed “in the most gruesome way” following apparent domestic disputes.
In other instances, the police also said some of the murdered people are accused perpetrating crime in Limpopo, before communities turn on them in acts of vigilantism.
IOL