A 23-year-old man was sentenced to 18 years in prison for raping a 14-year-old girl in a veld in Pampierstad in the Northern Cape in March 2019.
According to police spokesperson Colonel Mashay Gamieldien, Kobus Julies threatened the girl on 12 March 2019 when she was walking home from Pampierstad. He grabbed her and threatened her with a knife before forcing her to undress in the veld. He then raped her and fled the scene.
On 30 March 2019, the victim spotted Julies at Pampierstad Mountain View and alerted the investigating officer Constable Edwin Thabapelo, who arrested him. Julies escaped from lawful custody but was rearrested on the same day.
The Hartswater Magistrate's Court sentenced Julies to 18 years' imprisonment for rape and five years' imprisonment for escape from lawful custody. He was also declared unfit to possess a firearm and his name was recorded in the National Register for Sex Offenders.
He was also linked to another rape case involving a 23-year-old woman. That trial will start in the Warrenton Circuit Court in February.
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