CAPE TOWN - The Kimberley Regional Court in the Northern Cape has sentenced a convicted rapist to 15 years’ direct imprisonment.
Shaun van Niekerk, 38, locally known as Tupac, was convicted of the rape of a then 16-year-old girl.
According to evidence before the court, on October 29, 2017, Van Niekerk and his friend and the 16-year-old victim were drinking at his shanty in Deetlefsville in Strydenburg.
It was heard that Van Niekerk’s friend later left, and when alone with the victim Van Niekerk grabbed a knife and raped her at knifepoint.
After the incident Van Niekerk fled the area, but was later tracked and traced to Noordgesig in Johannesburg on December 6, 2018.
The court sentenced Van Niekerk to 15 years’ direct imprisonment for rape. He was also declared unfit to possess a firearm.
The court also ordered that his name be entered into the Sexual Offenders Register.
Police in the area welcomed the sentencing.
Northern Cape provincial head of the Family Violence, Child Protection and Sexual Offences (FCS) Unit, Brigadier Nicky Mills, praised the investigating officer, Detective Constable Ricardo Kock of Hopetown FCS Unit, for his determination and persistence in ensuring that the perpetrator was incarcerated.
In an unrelated incident in the Free State, three suspects were released on R500 bail each in the Harrismith Magistrates’ Court for possession of dagga worth over R200 000.
Police arrested the trio along the R74 Bergville-Harrismith Road.
The suspects from Ladysmith in KwaZulu-Natal were stopped by the police’s Harrismith Highway Patrol team. When officers searched the vehicle, six bags containing 166kg of dagga were found.
The suspects are alleged to have been en route to Welkom.
Police seized the dagga and the silver Toyota Avanza in which the suspects were travelling.