Rape convict learns the hard way

Molatlhegi Jonas was convicted and sentenced to 20 years for rape and five years for robbery both of which run concurrently.  However, he was contesting his rape sentence saying that it was too 'stiff'.  The Court of Appeal found that Jonas knew of his HIV status prior to the rape incident though he denies this. Court of Appeal judges Elijah Legwaila, Monametsi Gaongalelwe and David Newman agreed with a Selebi-Phikwe principal magistrate's decision to impose the 20-year sentence. 

“It is not within the powers of this court to reduce the sentence in the absence of exceptional extenuating circumstances. The appellant's HIV positive status is not an exceptional extenuating circumstance,” said Legwaila.