Khomotso Motlane was convicted of rape and theft by the Middelburg Regional Court for the 2020 rape of a 17-year-old boy.

The incident occurred on June 26. 2020. Motlane faced one count of rape and one count of theft for stealing R60 from the victim.

The teenager’s version

According to the victim, he had no prior knowledge of Motlane before the night of the incident. He said the two were merely friends on Facebook when Motlane texted him, and the pair began chatting.

They then arranged to meet at around 19:00 at a church in Extension 4, Mhluzi. The victim said they met as planned and started chatting and walking. At some point, Motlane asked him to cross the street.

After they crossed, Motlane pushed him and started acting very aggressively. They then walked to a bush, where Motlane pulled out a sharp object and held it to his own body. During cross-examination, he was asked why he told the police Motlane had a knife. The teen denied this and said he only said a ‘sharp object’, and the officer wrote something else.

He said Motlane then told him to keep walking. He complied because of Motlane’s aggression, but not because he wanted to go willingly.

Motlane instructed the young man to undress, and when he refused, Motlane pulled him and told him again to undress.
He told the court that he complied, after which Motlane unzipped his pants and raped him. He said he then started crying.

After the ordeal, Motlane told him to get dressed, after which he began searching him and took R60 from his back pocket.

The boy said they left together on Motlane’s instruction, but used a different route and reached a hill, where he said he was raped again.

When he arrived home, he told his mother and brothers what had happened and was taken to the police station to open a case of rape.

Motlane’s version

Motlane told the court that he and the 17-year-old met that night; however, the sex between them was consensual. He said when they got to the bush, the teenager performed oral sex on him to lubricate him. Motlane further added that it was the young man who invited him to have sex that night. He said they only had sex once and not twice, as the victim claimed.

The victim denied Motlane’s claims and told the court that Motlane, in fact, used saliva to lubricate him before he raped him. He said if he indeed enjoyed the sex, he wouldn’t have arrived home in tears.

Motlane’s lawyer told the young man that perhaps he felt scorned after Motlane told him that although he enjoyed the sex, he could not continue because he had a girlfriend. To which he responded that he never knew Motlane had a girlfriend.

The victim’s brother was also called as a witness and told the court that his brother came home crying that night and told them he had been raped by Motlane, after which they took him to the police station and subsequently to the hospital.

Magistrate Deon Minnie

Magistrate Minnie concluded that the State had proved its case beyond a reasonable doubt, after evaluating the evidence and noting the several contradictions that arose during the trial. He held that Motlane indeed raped the teenager twice that night and further stole his money.

“The use of a sharp object, whether a knife or something else, invalidates any claim that the victim freely consented, whether through actions or words‚” Minnie concluded.

• The matter was postponed to January 28 next year for sentencing.