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The Kimberley High Court has sentenced convicted murderer Tefelo Dikole to life imprisonment for the murder of six-year-old Kutlwano Garesape.
Kutlwano was killed in August 2016 at Jan Kempdorp in the Northern Cape while trying to defend his mother from Dikole who wanted to rape her.
Acting Judge Livhuwani Vuma handed down the sentence and said 32-year-old Dikole could not be rehabilitated.
“Kutlwano died when Tefelo Dikole stabbed him with a broken bottle several times as he was defending his mother against possible rape,” Vuma said in delivering the sentence.
He sentenced Dikole to an additional seven years for attempting to rape Segomotso Garesepe, Kutlwano’s mother.
Garesepe said that she was pleased with the sentencing and that she could finally sleep peacefully.
“I’m very happy with the outcome of the sentence. I can never be thankful enough for everyone who supported us. It was hard when we used to come to court, and things were dragging, but we never gave up hope.”
Dikole was found guilty of killing Kutlwano last month.
MT @PolokoTau: Faces of the alleged killer of 6yr old Kutlwano Garesape (young happy face in the picture). The boy was allegedly killed while trying to fight off this man, Tefelo Dikole, and stopping him from raping his mother. Dikole's murder trial is currently underway pic.twitter.com/x7vFJb5qeP
— City Press Online (@City_Press) May 3, 2018
City Press reported that the court heard how Dikole had assaulted Kutlwano by twice throwing him into the air and letting him fall to the ground before slashing his stomach open with a broken bottle.
READ: The story of a ‘child killer’
During the trial, Dikole had denied any involvement in the crime and repeatedly contended that he was not at the murder scene.
