POLOKO TAU
T HE SELF-CONFESSED rapist and murderer of an eight-year-old girl claimed that he committed the “evil act” to punish her mother – who “infected me with Aids”.
He raped her, strangled her and hid her limp body in his shack.
Tshepiso Thoote was only eight.
Tebogo Rasekoa, 30, testified in the Johannesburg High Court yesterday that he had strangled Tshepiso with his hands for “less than 10 minutes”.
Rasekoa had had a relationship with Tshepiso’s mother Emily, but in July 2010, when he raped and killed the girl, they had already broken up.
He also admitted yesterday to stuffing Tshepiso’s body between the base and mattress of a bed at his shack in Protea South before fleeing to the Free State in July last year.
The prosecution alleged that Rasekoa met Tshepiso in the street and gave her money to go buy snacks and sweets.
The State said he had ordered Tshepiso to return to his shack. When she returned, he raped and strangled her.
Rasekoa told the court that Thoote, with whom he had a relationship in 2004, had previously left her for another man, and alleged that she also “sent people to attack me with guns and had me arrested once”.
“Out of all these I didn’t care, but she left with another man for the Eastern Cape and came back to infect me with HIV/Aids. I didn’t plan to kill her child, but it’s because (Emily) hurt me a lot in life.
“Seeing Tshepiso in the street was like seeing her mother. My heart was sore. I got angry when I saw her.”
Rasekoa showed remorse, saying:
“Tshepiso deserved to live, and what I did was evil… and I don’t say to the court that I’m proud of what I did.
“I had time to decide, but took wrong decisions.”
Asked if he had killed Tshepiso to hurt her mother, Rasekoa responded: “I would say so.”
After Rasekoa had accused Thoote of infidelity, he was accused by the latter in court of seeing other women, which had led to their break-up.
Thoote said Rasekoa had been trying to persuade her to reconcile with him.
When she refused on his last attempt – two days before Tshepiso went missing – Rasekoa had threatened to “do something that will hurt me for the rest of my life”.
Thoote said that because of this statement, she immediately thought of Rasekoa when Tshepiso went missing.
When she contacted the police, she went with them to his shack, where Tshepiso’s body was found.
He was arrested the following day at his home in Tweespruit, Free State.
Testifying in court yesterday, forensic pathologist Dr Patricia Klepp, who performed a post-mortem on Tshepiso, said her death was “consistent with strangulation”, which had led to what she said was “not an accidental death”.
She said there were “little haemorrhages” in the deceased’s eyes, which was “due to pressure applied to the neck” during strangulation.
Klepp further stated that strangulation for about four minutes could result in “irretrievable brain damage and death”.
She also noted that there was blood and damage to the girl’s vagina.
The case continues.