Kimberley - A 35-year-old Kimberley man, Basil Daniel van Rooi, has been sentenced to life imprisonment for two counts of rape, as well as a further 12 years imprisonment for the murder of a 55-year-old woman from Soul City.
The two sentences will run concurrently.
The victim, Feiky Booysen, was raped and murdered during the early hours of December 24 2012.
She was last seen drinking with the accused at her shanty in Soul City.
Her naked body was discovered by a neighbour at approximately 9am on the same day.
It was reported at the time that Booysen, whose body was slumped over her bed, had been choked to death in her shanty.
Residents reportedly heard her screaming but were too afraid to come out of their homes.
Booysen was arrested a few hours later. He was linked to the crime through DNA.
The sentence was handed down in the Galeshewe Magistrate’s Court on Friday.
The Galeshewe Cluster Commander, Major-General Kolie Matthys, congratulated Detective Warrant Officer Essie Esterhuysen and the Kagisho detective team for their good investigative work and said he believed “that this conviction will serve as a deterrent to any would-be rapists and murderers”.
“The sentencing was as a result of an integrated approach by different units within the criminal justice system.”
He added that crimes against women and children was a priority for the South African Police Service and warned those who committed such inhumane crimes that they would be found, prosecuted and sentenced to lengthy terms of imprisonment.
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