A 33-year-old parolee appeared before the Lichtenburg Magistrates’ Court on Monday, September 23, accused of raping and murdering a 34-year-old woman in Bodibe village, North West.
Mokhele Andries Thebehali made a brief court appearance and is due to appear again before the same court on Wednesday for bail application.
The accused, who was on parole when the incident allegedly took place, was arrested at his home on September 19, after police investigations linked him to the crime.
The victim, Naledi Masigo, went missing on June 29, after celebrating her birthday with her cousins at a tavern in Bodibe village.
The accused, who was the boyfriend of one of her cousins, had offered to buy them meat for the celebration. According to North West police, he then suggested they go to another tavern. The cousins refused, but Thebehali then left with Masigo, according to eyewitnesses, and she was never seen again.
Her body was found by a truck driver in the bushes near a farm outside Lichtenburg on July 2.
North West Police Commissioner, Lieutenant General Sello Kwena, has condemned the heinous crime, and thanked the Lichtenburg detectives and provincial anti-gang unit for their investigations that led to the arrest.
The latest crime statistics show that a rape is reported every 12 minutes in South Africa. Furthermore, 86 people are murdered each day.
In the most recent quarter, from April to June 2024, rape cases increased by 0.6%, from 9,252 to 9,309, versus the same period in 2023, according to Stats SA.
Last week 22-year-old serial rapist and murderer Sifiso Nasseb Mkhwanazi was handed six life imprisonment sentences for the multiple rapes and murders he committed.
IOL