Johannesburg - Modise Motapane, convicted of kidnapping, raping and murdering a four-year-old girl from Katlehong, was sentenced to two life terms and another seven years in jail on Monday, Gauteng police said.
Captain Mega Ndobe said the High Court sitting at the Palm Ridge Magistrate's Court handed down the sentences, which would run concurrently.
Four-year-old Keabetswe Tshabalala was found raped and murdered in Katlehong in September last year. The court reportedly heard last week that Motapane offered to help the mother, Keneiwe Tshabalala, search for her missing child.
“He said we could not go into (the) bushes alone as we are both (women) and that it was not safe for us,” Tshabalala was quoted as saying.
He led them to the veld and later to a dilapidated building where the girl was found strangled with a string and hanged.
“He walked two paces inside the building and as we followed him he shouted 'Oh, here is the child'.”
Tshabalala testified that Motapane visited their home on the day the girl was raped and killed.
Motapane pleaded not guilty to the charges.
Sapa