Incoming Southern Regional Magistrate, Lot Moroka, last week sentenced Brucelee Thakadu to an effective two-year jail term on two counts of rape.
On each count, Moroka had sentenced Thakadu to five years jail term but suspended three years on condition that he does not commit a similar offence during those six years he had suspended and that the sentence should run concurrently.
Before then he had said that the offence of rape was a serious one, more so that it had happened to minors who Thakadu was teaching. The intention of the sentence, he said, was to send a warning to other teachers who might entertain similar ideas on children put under their care by their trusting parents, adding that teachers should not abuse that trust by committing such offences on children under their care.
Moroka said that parents had trusted Thakadu and placed their children under his care only for him to abuse that trust.
Though he said that he had considered the fact that Thakadu was a first offender, Moroka said that he felt that a custodial sentence was needed in order for Thakadu to reevaluate his life and open a new leaf for the future.
