Ten-year sentences for murder of Thoriso Themane in dispute over a cap

Kgothatso Teffo, 18, Raofa Mahloromela Vincent Mothomela, 18, Tshiamo Miyeni, 19, and Lesetja Kabelo Ramokgopa, 20, have been sentenced to 10 years in prison for murdering Thoriso Themane.

The four were sentenced on Wednesday by the Limpopo high court in Polokwane.

Teffo is expected to spend three years of the sentence at a juvenile centre while Miyeni and Mothemela will spend two years and Ramokgopa a year before they are transferred to a normal prison.

Themane was brutally assaulted and killed in Fauna Park in Polokwane by six teenagers and two adults in 2019, though only four were found guilty of murder. The assault was captured on a cellphone video that went viral on social media.

Four of the six teenagers who assaulted Themane were found guilty in Limpopo High Court late last year while the other two were found guilty of common assault.

Two adults who were accused of being part of the mob involved in the killing — Chuene Maleka and Alfred Mothapo — were found guilty of assault with intent to cause grievous bodily harm.

Maleka and Mothapo were sentenced to R20,000 in fines or five years in prison.

NPA Limpopo spokesperson Mashudu Malabi-Dzhangi previously told TimesLIVE that the court was satisfied that there was common purpose among the four youngsters found guilty of the murder. She said at the time that the two found guilty of common assault submitted a guilty plea to the court at the beginning of the trial.

“In the statement they submitted, they said they realised that they should have left the group because there was no reason to assault the deceased,” Malabi-Dzhangi said at the time.

Thabang Mohubedi, 20, and Adaho Mudau, 20, who pleaded guilty, were sentenced to three years, wholly suspended for five years provided they do not commit a similar offence in that time.

Themane was assaulted at Fauna Park, Polokwane, and later died in hospital. Malabi-Dzhangi told TimesLIVE at the time the minors had accused Themane of taking a cap that belonged to one of them.

During the trial, she said the two adults denied all the allegations against them and said they never assaulted Themane, though they were at the scene.

TimesLIVE

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