Gunpoint Terror: Northern Cape Man Jailed for Raping Woman in Front of Her 2-Year-Old Child

• Ernest Khoza was convicted by the Kimberley Sexual Offences Court on charges of rape and robbery during a violent 2018 home invasion in Warrenton
• DNA evidence played a central role in the State's case, linking Khoza to the attack on a woman and her family
• The court also ordered that Khoza's name be added to the National Register for Sex Offenders following his sentencing

NORTHERN CAPE — A 49-year-old Northern Cape man has been handed an effective 25-year prison term after the Kimberley Sexual Offences Court found him guilty of raping a woman in front of her two-year-old child during a home invasion in Warrenton in 2018.

According to IOL, Ernest Khoza was convicted on three counts: rape, housebreaking with intent to rob, and robbery with aggravating circumstances. The incident involved Khoza and a second man allegedly breaking into a family's home, where they held a 37-year-old woman, her husband and their toddler at gunpoint. The attackers wore balaclavas in an attempt to conceal their identities. The woman was sexually assaulted while her young child was present in the room.

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DNA evidence linked Khoza to the attack

The National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) said the State built its case on a combination of circumstantial and forensic evidence, with DNA analysis proving critical in establishing Khoza's connection to the crimes.

The court imposed a 15-year sentence for the housebreaking and robbery conviction and a further 15 years for rape. Under Section 280 of the Criminal Procedure Act, five years of the two terms will run concurrently, bringing the total effective sentence to 25 years' direct imprisonment. Khoza was additionally declared unfit to possess a firearm and his name was entered into the National Register for Sex Offenders.

Second accused acquitted after evidence review

Khoza's co-accused, Thabang Molebedi, was acquitted and discharged in terms of Section 174 of the Criminal Procedure Act. The court determined that the available evidence failed to place Molebedi at the scene of the crime. Neither the complainant nor her husband could identify him as one of the perpetrators.

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NPA provincial spokesperson Mojalefa Senokoatsane said the conviction and sentence would offer the victim and her family some degree of justice and closure.

Senokoatsane said the outcome reflected the NPA's resolve to hold perpetrators of gender-based violence fully accountable through the courts.

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3 Briefly News articles on rape cases

• Three suspects wanted in connection with separate rape cases in Bloemspruit have been arrested by the Free State Provincial Tracking Team, with the youngest of those apprehended being a 14-year-old minor.
• The Western Cape Division of the High Court highlighted the extreme vulnerability of elderly rural residents when it handed down an effective 25-year direct prison sentence to a 17-year-old boy for rape and murder.
• A 21-year-old man has been arrested in Limpopo after allegedly raping and killing 12 goats in a case that has shocked communities and animal welfare organisations.

Source: Briefly News