On the back of Child Protection Week, an accused in the murder and rape of a 5-year-old girl was convicted in the Western Cape High Court yesterday, while another accused in a
separate case also appeared for the rape and murder of a girl aged three.
The National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) said they will argue for the harshest possible sentence for Xolani Lantu, who was found guilty of the rape and murder of Minentle Lekhatha, 5.
Minentle’s lifeless body was found under a bridge in Nomzamo, Strand, in June last year.
Lantu admitted to the crime, which he said he committed after he discovered his ex-girlfriend, Minentle’s grandmother, Thelma Bomela, “has a new boyfriend who sleeps over at their
residence”.
He was also found guilty of kidnapping.
NPA spokesperson Eric Ntabazalila said: “We will ask the court to impose life imprisonment for each of the two rape charges, life imprisonment for the murder charge and 10 years for the kidnapping charge.
"The conviction of the accused within one year of Minentle’s murder shows the NPA’s continued commitment to prioritise the prosecution of all child murders in this province.”
Minentle’s father, Siyabonga Bomela, hailed the justice
system for the the swift trial.
“It is not about how one feels, we are glad justice is seen to be served for Minentle. We will welcome whatever sentence is given by the court,” said Bomela.
In a plea explanation, Lantu said he became angry when Minentle told him Bomela was sleeping with another man at her house.
“I was upset and became very angry towards her grandmother Thelma,” he said.
He said he took Minentle under a footbridge not far from her home and decided to undress her.
He then killed her because he “was scared Minentle would tell her family what he had done to her”, he said.
Sentencing proceedings are expected to start on Wednesday.
In a separate case, toxicology expert Jacobus van Zyl took to the stand in the case against Mortimer Saunders, on trial for the rape and killing of Courtney Pieters, 3, in May last year.
Courtney’s body was found in a shallow grave in Epping Industria nine days after she was reported missing. Saunders was arrested the following day.
Saunders, who was a tenant at the family’s home, admitted to strangling the child.
Previously, in his plea explanation, Saunders said he had mixed ant poison with water and gave it to Courtney due to “ill feelings” between him and her mother Juanita.
Van Zyl said the amount of poison found in Courtney’s body was enough to kill an adult.
Samples collected from Courtney’s body included a piece of stomach, kidney, liver, bile and blood, said Van Zyl.
“I was asked to test for pesticide and after screening, we found quantitative carbaryl in the bile and blood samples. The stomach was also tested, but could not be quantified as there was insufficient sample to do the next analysis,” he said.
Carbaryl is a chemical used as an insecticide to control flies, fire ants, fleas, ticks, spiders and many other outdoor pests.
For a moderate or mild dosage amount, Van Zyl said, ingestion of pesticide poison can start showing an effect after four to 12 hours of ingestion.
If a higher dosage was ingested, effects can show as soon as 20 to 30 minutes.
“I was surprised to still detect carbaryl in blood at the time of autopsy.
"(This suggests) a high dosage was administered and death was quick because metabolism stopped,” he said.