East London boxer scheduled to fight in December despite rape conviction

23 November 2015 - 02:10 By Siya Boya

It is "business as usual" for former South African and international boxing champion Thabo Sonjica, according to his manager - despite the boxer being found guilty of rape. Mlandeli Tengimfene of All Winners' Boxing Club, said they were aware of the conviction."This is not affecting us yet. He has a fight on December 18 and he is currently busy with training."Also, we do not know what type of sentence he will get, maybe he will be sentenced to correctional supervision and he can carry on with training," Tengimfene said."We do not condone what he has done. However, as a club we have nothing against him," he added.Sonjica was convicted of rape after an incident last February in which he dragged a girl, aged 16, into a shack, forced open her legs and violated her with his fingers.Sonjica, who had pleaded not guilty, told magistrate Ignatius Kitching he wanted to "grace [the girl] with his attention because she never had it before".He also said the rape charge was laid because members of his Duncan Village community, near East London, were jealous of him.Sitting in the East London Regional Court, Kitching found Sonjica guilty and his bail of R1000 was extended. He will be sentenced on February 12...

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