MOSSEL BAY NEWS - At the tail end of Women's Month, a team of five Mossel Bay women, including one brave rape survivor, worked through the legal system to ensure a two-time rapist received a hefty sentence of 17 years' imprisonment.
The Thembalethu Regional Court handed this sentence down to Patrick Roelfse on Tuesday 25 August, thanks to Warrant Officer Mantshadi Mofokeng of the Mossel Bay Family Violence, Child Protection and Sexual Offences Unit, Mossel Bay Regional Court prosecutors Ntsiki Tyeke and Helga Goosen, court preparation officer Ongezwa Fihlani and the survivor, who had immediately reported the attack on her.
It was early on the morning of 24 July 2023 that the woman was walking along Bland Street to her friend's house.
Just before she reached the gate, Roelfse charged at her from behind and pushed her face down to the ground. He raped her, robbed her of her cellphone and fled.
Mofokeng was assigned the case. While there were initially doubts that she would find Roelfse, as he was not known to the victim and was sleeping on the streets, the detective tracked him down and arrested him in a parking lot of a building in town just two days later, on 26 July.
Roelfse has a long list of previous convictions dating back to 2001, including assault, theft, housebreaking, robbery, a 2008 rape and malicious damage to property.
He had been sentenced to 10 years' imprisonment on the rape conviction, and to three years for the robbery. The sentences for the other convictions ranged from three months to five years suspended.
Roelfse was charged with rape and robbery for the 2023 matter, but had pleaded not guilty. After the trial, which was run by Tyeke, the Mossel Bay Regional Court found him guilty early in July this year. He was expected to be sentenced on 21 August, and Goosen handed over the list of previous convictions to the presiding magistrate after addressing the court.
Fihlani, who helped prepare the woman for the trial and prepare her victim impact statement, read it in court last week. It said the woman had withdrawn herself from society since the incident, and had felt embarrassed that she was unable to defend herself against him.
"I am fearful around strangers, especially men ... I am bound to my home as my trust in humanity is gone," it said. She also wrote that her family has been emotionally impacted by the incident.
The sentencing was postponed to 25 August and transferred to Thembalethu due to the number of documents that had to be read.
His 17-year sentence was handed down that day, as well as three years for the robbery. These sentences are to run concurrently. He was also declared unfit to possess a firearm, and the court ordered that his name be recorded in the National Register for Sexual Offenders.
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