MBOMBELA – Convicted rapist and murderer, Elias Thabo Silaul was sentenced to two life sentences, without the option of parole, in the local Regional Court yesterday.
He was sentenced by magistrate Mr André Geldenhuys who had found him guilty on Friday. Silaul raped Zinhle Queen Mdluli (17) before strangling her at the Alliance Church in Shabalala near Hazyview on May 27, 2012. According to a report in The Citizen, he pleaded not guilty to the two charges of rape and murder.
In his judgement on Friday, Geldenhuys said although there were no witnesses, Silaul placed himself at the crime scene. “You said you were with the deceased during the night before the murder. You were also linked by DNA samples collected by police from the forensic laboratory at the crime scene.”
Geldenhuys said the semen collected from the scene and from the victim matched that of Silaul. “You also made a confession to the police, that during that night, at about 20:50, you went to the Alliance Church with the deceased. You asked her to have sex with you but she refused.” “When she tried pushing you away, you assaulted her until she was motionless. You said she did not scream and you did not rape her. When realising she was motionless, you left her with her trousers and panties still down around her knees,” Geldenhuys said.
“You then testified that the deceased was your girlfriend. After you met her that night, three thugs attacked you two and fired a shot into the ground. You said you ran in one direction and she took another. You headed home to sleep until the next morning,” he said.
Silaul claimed he was forced to make a confession. Geldenhuys said Silaul testified that he did not go to her home to find out what had happened after the attack until police arrested him on June 3, 2012.
“If she was your girlfriend, you should have checked on her to find out what happened after the thugs attacked you. But you stayed at your home for days, like nothing had happened. After meeting with her that night, you dragged her to the veld next to the church, raped her and strangled her to silence her. You are therefore found guilty as charged,” he said.
