Fifteen years in prison for raping an ex-lover » TheVoiceBW

Moiphitlho Setumo could not accept the end of his relationship and took terrible revenge on his ex-girlfriend.

Shortly after being abandoned, on September 8, 2017, the 44-year-old Mokoboxane man raped the woman he claimed to love.

Setumo was found guilty by the Lethlhakane Magistrate Court in 2019 and has been in prison since then while awaiting sentencing.

The convicted rapist finally learned his fate this week when he appeared before the Francistown High Court on Tuesday, where he was sentenced to a minimum term of 15 years behind bars.

Setumo will wish he had been convicted earlier as the minimum sentence for rape was increased from 10 to 15 years in prison in 2023.

In handing down the verdict, Judge Tshegofatso Mogomotsi said the court had taken into account a number of factors, including that the rape was not committed as part of an act of excessive force.

The judge also found that the defendant was not a first-time offender, even though his previous conflicts with the law were not of a sexual nature.

“Compared to what he is now accused of, these were minor cases. The last offence was committed eight years ago. The court will take into account the fact that the accused has been in prison for four years waiting for this case to be concluded,” Mogomotsi ruled, dating the verdict retroactively to the time of his conviction.

This means that, assuming Setumo serves his full 15-year term, he will not breathe free air again until 2034.