CHARGED with five counts of rape and found guilty on three, Lindokuhle Msweli (21) of the Mabhuyeni Area was sentenced to life imprisonment in the Empangeni Magistrate’s Court, with an additional 10 years added to run concurrently with the life sentence.
Convicted on counts three and four, which had been taken as one for the purpose of the sentence, Msweli was handed down life imprisonment for the rape of a then five-year-old child of the Mvazane Reserve near Ntambanana in 2011.
According to court reports, there had been a funeral at the home of the victim, which he had attended.
‘He approached the victim and asked her to accompany him to a house. Being an elder to the little girl, she obliged and followed him,’ said Empangeni Magistrate Court Prosecutor Senzo Magwaza.
‘On their way, other children saw the man lead the victim to a bush nearby where he subsequently raped her. The paternal uncle of the victim had been looking for her as she had been missing for a while and then followed the leads from the children who had seen the direction in which they walked.’
‘He saw Msweli raping his niece and punched him off the victim. Msweli ran off and the uncle attended to his niece,’ said Magwaza.
On count one, the rape of a 53-year-old woman in the Mabhuyeni near Nseleni in 2012, he was sentenced to 10 years imprisonment. The victim had been walking home after she had visited some friends in a nearby area when Msweli approached the woman and forcefully dragged her into the bushes where he raped her before fleeing the scene.
The community welcomed the sentence.
Hang them bastards who hurt our precious children! What is their future worth? Life imprisonment and NO way to ecscape?
Realy who 2trust in this world? After so many years of democracy woman stil becoming a victims of rape #crying