Toddler’s rapist, murderer sentenced
ALEXANDRA – Toddler's rapist and murderer gets life sentences and more.
A man who denied that he raped and murdered a toddler in a Sandton housing complex in 2016 received two life sentences and an additional eight years imprisonment in the South Gauteng High Court in Johannesburg.
Philane Mthiyane (29), who worked as a security guard at a Sandton housing complex where the victim’s family lived, was found guilty in the Alexandra Magistrates’ Court in February last year of raping and murdering the two-year-old Thandolwethu Moyo.
Read: You can use dagga at home, rules the WC High Court
His case was transferred to the South Gauteng High Court for sentencing due to the gravity of the offences where he was sentenced by Judge Maletsatsi Mahalelo on 25 January.
The crimes were committed in the presence of the victim’s 14-year-old childminder, whom he threatened to kill if she disclosed the crimes. He was well-known to the family of the victim.
In addition to the two life sentences, Mahalelo also sentenced Mthiyane to five more years for forcing the childminder to watch the act and an additional three years for attempting to defeat the ends of justice.
Mthiyane, who is the father of two young children, found the childminder and the victim watching television on the day when the crime was committed. He threatened the childminder that he would kill her if she told anybody what he did. He then got onto the bed with the toddler, undressed her and himself and throttled her to death before raping her.
Rape: 2 women raped
Afterwards, he threatened the childminder again and told her to tell the victim’s mother that the child had fallen from the bed. When the mother arrived at home, she rushed the toddler, who wasn’t breathing, to hospital where she was certified dead on arrival.
In sentencing, Mahalelo said Mthiyane had abused the trust of the toddler and her family. He also showed no remorse when he pleaded not guilty.
