Qacha’s Nek, Feb. 18 — Senior Resident Magistrate Ts’eliso Bale has sentenced 19 year-old Katiso Tlali of Ha Thuube to four years in prison on each of three counts of raping his young relatives.
The sentences will run consecutively, with half of each suspended on condition that he does not commit a similar offense within the next two years.
Tlali, who was a minor at the time of the crimes, pleaded guilty and begged for leniency. He was charged under the Sexual Offenses Act No. 3 of 2003 for raping three boys aged 8, 3 and 6 on consecutive days in April 2023.
Delivering judgment, Magistrate Bale acknowledged that Tlali was a first time offender and had saved the court’s time by pleading guilty. However, he emphasized that, despite his age at the time, Tlali should have been a protector, not a predator.
