CR/S
733/06

IN THE
HIGH COURT OF LESOTHO

In the
matter between:-

REX

V

TSELISO
CHABELI

SENTENCE

Delivered
by the Honourable Madam Justice N. Majara on the 30th March 2007

The
accused herein appeared before the Maseru Magistrate Court wherein he
was charged with contravening the provisions of Section
9 (1) and (3)
of the Sexual Offences Act 2003 it being alleged that from September
to November in the year 2006, and at or near
Motimposo, he
wrongfully, unlawfully and intentionally sexually abused one Mamello
Mothibe a girl aged years, persistently by inserting
his penis into
her vagina.

After his
rights to legal representation and to bail were read and explained to
him, accused pleaded guilty to the charge and after
hearing the
summary of the evidence the Court a quo found him guilty as charged
and referred him to this Court for sentence. The
reasons advanced by
the Magistrate as they are contained in the record of proceedings are
that accused deserves a heavy penalty
for the reason

1

that he
is a mature man aged forty one (41) years and that the complainant is
a minor child of only eight (8) years.

Further,
that he took advantage of this defenceless child who had no option
but to give in to his sexual demands as she had been
expelled from
her home by her mother who had also as frequently directed her to go
and sleep with the accused.

In
addition, that accused denied the child the choice to remain a virgin
until she came of age and could decide otherwise. That
her vagina is
torn almost irreparably with the high likelihood that she will become
withdrawn from her male counterparts and will
not be able to
socialize with males in the future or get married. That accused's
conduct is likely to have traumatized her so much
that she cannot
ever trust any man which factor could ruin her personal relationships
with people in the future.

On the
day of sentence, the Crown was represented by Ms Ngcobo whereas the
accused appeared in person. Upon being asked to address
this Court in
mitigation of sentence, he asked the Court to forgive him for the
wrong he has committed and promised that he will
never repeat the
offence again.

At the
Court's prompting, he went on to state that though he had married,
his wife passed away in the year 2001 and that his two
children
namely, a boy aged eleven years of age and a girls aged ten (10)
years of age respectively, were in the care of their
maternal
grandmother. Upon being asked whether he was aware of the seriousness
of his crime, the accused replied in the negative
and I might add,
much to the incredulity of this Court.

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In turn,
Ms Ngcobo pleaded with the Court to sentence accused in accordance
with the prescribed penalty.

In
passing sentence, I consider the following factors:-

That
accused repeatedly had sexual intercourse with eight (8) year old
defenceless child and did so without any form of protection

especially in this era of HIV/AIDS inter alia and its devastating
consequences. That the laboratory photographs of the child's
genitals
(to which I still shudder when envisaging) and the medical report
both of which formed part of the record in the Court
a quo show that
she contracted serious and life threatening infections with possible
drastic results including but not limited
to the possibility of her
being unable to bear any children in the future even assuming she
might overcome her psychological trauma
and manage to have a normal
relationship with a man.

Further,
that this poor child has lost her virginity and innocence at a very
tender age in the hands of a hardened and merciless
man who exhibited
no signs of having a conscience at all in the eyes of this Court.
Furthermore, that authority is legion that
people, especially young
children who have suffered this kind of abuse usually end up
psychologically and emotionally traumatized
and in some cases, for
life with no hope of recovery.

That
despite his having pleaded guilty before the trial Court, I find
absent any mitigating factors that could persuade me to give
him a
lenient sentence, more especially because he does not even have any
dependants to take care of since he is widowed and his
children are
being taken care of by someone else. I might also add that this might
be a blessing for I have reason to believe that
these children might
have also ended up as his victims.

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In
addition, that he is a menace to society and needs to be removed from
members of the community and locked away to disable him
from further
perpetuating this kind of abuse to other innocent people.

Bearing
all the above factors in mind, and also cognizant of the fact that
the prescribed minimum penalty in this regard is imprisonment
for a
period of fifteen (15) years without the option of a fine, I find
that the appropriate sentence herein is that of imprisonment
for a
period of twenty (20) years without the option of fine and I
accordingly so sentence him.

N. MAJARA

JUDGE

For the
Crown : Ms Ngcobo

For the
defence : In person

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