A WELL-KNOWN lawyer for the Legal Aid Board based in Makhado, Limpopo, was sentenced to 15 years imprisonment by the Polokwane Regional Court yesterday for raping a 15-year-old girl.
Police in Limpopo said the rape was committed on the night of December 21 2010 in Dorp Street in Polokwane, where Thomas Phalatsoe lived.
Spokesman Lieutenant-Colonel Mohale Ramatseba said the victim, who is from Mapela village outside Mokopane, left home after some differences with her guardian.
"The girl went to Polokwane with the intention of seeking police intervention. But the accused saw the girl in the street and offered to assist her," Ramatseba said.
"He, instead, took the girl to his home where she was raped during the night and released the following day."
Ramatseba said they welcomed the sentence and that the rape of a vulnerable and desperate girl who needed help from a law man was to be condemned.
"We believe this will serve as a deterrent to would-be rapists and hope the sentence will send a strong message to other men out there who are still harbouring the same mentality of raping women."
Rapist lawyer gets jailed for 15 years
A WELL-KNOWN lawyer for the Legal Aid Board based in Makhado, Limpopo, was sentenced to 15 years imprisonment by the Polokwane Regional Court yesterday for raping a 15-year-old girl.
Police in Limpopo said the rape was committed on the night of December 21 2010 in Dorp Street in Polokwane, where Thomas Phalatsoe lived.
Spokesman Lieutenant-Colonel Mohale Ramatseba said the victim, who is from Mapela village outside Mokopane, left home after some differences with her guardian.
"The girl went to Polokwane with the intention of seeking police intervention. But the accused saw the girl in the street and offered to assist her," Ramatseba said.
"He, instead, took the girl to his home where she was raped during the night and released the following day."
Ramatseba said they welcomed the sentence and that the rape of a vulnerable and desperate girl who needed help from a law man was to be condemned.
"We believe this will serve as a deterrent to would-be rapists and hope the sentence will send a strong message to other men out there who are still harbouring the same mentality of raping women."