09 Apr 2025

A man who snatched an eight year-old child from her deep sleep to sexually assault and rape her three years ago in Rasesa has been found guilty of rape.

Tshepiso Letsididi (37) of Kgope, who is no stranger to rape controversies, was convicted by Mochudi Principal Magistrate, Ms Queen Moanga on Tuesday morning.

“All the elements of this offence have been proved in all the four concerns,” Magistrate Moanga said delivering her judgement.

She stated that Letsididi was identified as the man who earlier during the day was seen selling maize by the child and other witnesses, and that his disappearance during the night in question coincided with that of the child.

The magistrate said the DNA found from the yellowish fluids found inside a condom at a house identified by the child as the crime scene marched his, while the DNA found outside the very condom matched that of the child.

She said the perpetrator, while trying to avoid being fully identified by the child, left during the dark in the morning but forgot a used condom, which he used to avoid being linked to the crime.

She said the prosecution proved there was penetration and it was indeed done by the accused person.

Magistrate Moanga said when the court assessed the child’s credibility, her testimony was without a dent although she answered like a child.

She said although the child said she could remember the face of the perpetrator, but could not identify him when asked in court, that could be because he took her during the night and he left the crime scene early in the morning.

The magistrate said the child remembered that she had followed her grandmother who was her guardian to a home next to a shebeen where she later fell asleep.

While in deep sleep, a man took her and when she tried to call for her grandmother’s attention, the man slapped her, and took her to a place where he undressed and raped her.

She said the child remembered that her assailant left early in the morning, that it was the first time she saw him, that he was not driving and that he had a bag full of knives.

She said the grandmother said upon realising the child’s disappearance, people started to assist in searching for the child immediately, only for the child to come in the morning while she and others had gone to the police.

Letsididi, who denied the rape charge, will appear in court in five weeks’ time for sentencing.

Apart from this conviction, Letsididi faces other rape charges in magistrate courts in Molepolole, Mogoditshane, Mochudi and a murder case at the High Court. ENDS