BRITS POS – POTCHEFSTROOM: 25 August 2025 - The Acting Provincial Commissioner of North West, Major General Patrick Asaneng, welcomes a life sentence handed down by the Brits Magistrates’ Court to a 41-year-old, Sello Solomon Mpete, on Friday, 22 August 2025. Mpete was sentenced for housebreaking with the intent to rape and the rape of the then 13-year-old victim in Segwaelane village near Mooinooi in the early hours of Saturday morning, 13 August 2016.
The court heard evidence that the 35-year-old mother of two children, left home at about 04:50 to go to work and locked her two daughters, aged 13 and 7, inside the house. About an hour later, she received a “Please Call Me” notification from her daughter and she called her. The daughter informed her that someone broke into their home and raped her. The mother rushed home immediately, and a case was reported to the police. The persistent efforts by members of the Brits Family violence, Child Protection and Sexual Offences (FCS) Unit culminated in the arrest of Mpete five days later. He was released on bail. Through meticulous investigation including overwhelming forensic leads evidence resulted in the conviction of Mpete, who was sentenced as follows:
Count 1: Rape – life imprisonment
Count 2: Housebreaking with the intent to rape – 8 years’ imprisonment
Mpete was also declared unfit to possess a firearm in terms section 103 of the Firearms Control Act, (Act No. 60 of 2000).
Major General Asaneng congratulated the investigating Officer, Sergeant Andile Molate and the Public Prosecutor, Advocate Mosuwe, for their collaborative efforts that resulted in the sentence. The General indicted that this case is one of many cases of serious sexual assaults, that women and young girl children are brutally violated by male sexual predators lurking undetected in the community. It is hoped that this dangerous, remorseless criminal will never again be released back into the community.”
