Online Reporter
Thupeyo Muleya, Beitbridge Bureau
The Limpopo High Court sitting in Polokwane has convicted and sentenced a self-styled prophet Mothupi Tjale Tau (36) from Brooklyn in Sekhukhune District to three life terms of imprisonment and an additional 37 years’ imprisonment for multiple offences.
These include two counts of murder, two counts of kidnapping, rape, robbery with aggravating circumstances and assault with intent to do grievous bodily harm.
Tau committed the offences between December 29 and 30 in 2023, at the Oaks Village, where he had offered his services as a prophet and killed two people and also raped his victims.
National Prosecution Authority Limpopo divisional spokesperson Ms Mashudu Malabi said the court further ordered that Tau’s name be registered in the National Register of the Sexual Offenders and declared him unfit to possess a firearm in terms of Section 103 of the Firearms Control Act 60 of 2000.
“The accused is further not eligible to work with children. He pleaded not guilty and the State led evidence of the multiple state witnesses who testified that the deceased, Hellen Teiwa Malepe and the accused were known to each other as the accused presented himself to her as a prophet who offered assistance to her family in the form of spiritual guidance,” said Ms Malabi.
“Between 29 and 30 December 2023 at the Oaks village, the accused came to the house of the deceased Hellen Malepe demanding money.
“He forcefully dragged the deceased from her house to the nearby bushes, where he stabbed her multiple times, leaving her for dead. He further robbed her of her cellphone and fled the scene”.
She said Tau then went back to the house of the deceased (mother) and he found the second deceased, her daughter, Kgaogelo Michelle Malepe and strangled her until she was unconscious, thereafter raped her inside their home.
Ms Malabi said the man also inflicted grievous bodily injuries on her, and she later succumbed to injuries and was certified dead at the scene inside her home.
She said after committing the offences, Tau stuffed the victim’s five-year-old son with a jersey in his mouth, tied him with masking tape around his mouth and tied his hands behind his back.
“He locked him inside the house, leaving him in full view of her deceased sister’s lifeless body. After a thorough investigation by the police, the accused was arrested and kept in custody until his trial,” said Ms Malabi.
“The accused was ultimately found guilty of these charges after he claimed that he was not responsible for these vile acts.
“In aggravation of sentence, senior State advocate Lerato Mohlaka submitted that the accused was found guilty of more than one type of three most heinous crimes, two counts of murder and rape, assault of a minor and robbery”.
She continued; “She argued that the accused murdered a mother and daughter, and he exposed the minor boy to unspeakable levels of pain, trauma, and violence.
The State further submitted that the court should take note that Gender-Based Violence was declared a national disaster by the President of the Republic of South Africa.”
Ms Malabi emphasised that the crimes committed by Tau were not only prevalent and very serious within the jurisdiction of this court and that the facts of this particular case had sent shock waves to the community of the Oaks Village and South Africa.
Director of Public Prosecutions, Advocate Ivy Thenga, welcomed the sentences, saying that all cases of sexual violence encroach on the rights to dignity and privacy of the victims as enshrined in the Constitution.
