The Ashton Regional Court has sentenced Sabelo Ntamehlo to an effective 25-year direct imprisonment after the court deviated from the prescribed minimum sentence of life imprisonment following a brutal rape of a young woman.
The court sentenced Ntamehlo to 30 years direct imprisonment but suspended five years with conditions as the court found substantial and compelling circumstances which include that he did not have previous convictions on a charge of rape and that there was significant alcohol involved in the commission of the offence.
The State proved that 41-year-old Ntamehlo raped a 24-year-old woman at Vastrap workers accommodation near Ashton on the evening of 2 September 2021 after the victim and her friend visited the area for a social gathering.
State Advocate Heinrich Koert led evidence that showed that the accused was initially not part of the social gathering but later ingratiated himself with it.
At some point during the evening, the victim was alone next to the fire and wanted to go home as she had to go to work the next day.
She started to walk towards a dark road as Vastrap is located a distance away from the residential area of Ashton.
The accused followed her as she started walking home. On the way, he grabbed her arm but she pulled it back from him. He then dragged her to a nearby bus stop where he raped her violently while choking her.
After her ordeal, she managed to escape by crawling through a nearby vineyard.
She eventually hid under a truck in the area. Her friends, who had started to look for her, found her under the truck.
They were shocked at her physical state and at her torn and dirty clothes. She relayed to them what had happened, and they called police who arrested the accused closer to the scene of the brutal rape.
In the State’s case, Adv Koert led the victim’s evidence, that of her friends and medical examination evidence following victim’s examination by a local doctor.
During the trial, the accused raised a defence of consent as he admitted sexual intercourse with the complainant, but he asserted it was with consent.
The court dismissed his assertions and sentenced him. Adv Koert said the sentence that was imposed also sends the message out to the community at large that, it is no longer business as usual when it comes to sexual offences committed against the vulnerable.
They will be removed from society.
The NPA welcomed the sentence stating that cases of sexual violence encroach on the rights to dignity and privacy of the victims as enshrined in our constitution hence it aggressively prosecutes them.