Zimbabwean national gets three life sentences, 226...

Zimbabwean national gets three life sentences, 226-year jail term

The Pretoria High Court has sentenced a Zimbabwean national to three life terms as well as an additional 226 years in jail for a host of charges, which include murder and rape.

Other charges include aggravated robbery, unlawful possession of firearms, housebreaking, kidnapping, unlawful entry, possession of ammunition, escaping lawful custody and being in South Africa illegally.

34-year-old Leonard Lemmy Chauke from Olievenhoutbosch, Centurion in Gauteng Province, was given three life terms for two counts of rape and murder, 80 years direct imprisonment for four counts of robbery with aggravating circumstances and 90 years direct imprisonment for six counts of unlawful possession of a firearm.

Chauke was also sentenced to 15 years direct imprisonment for five counts of housebreaking, 15 years direct imprisonment for three counts of kidnapping and 10 years direct imprisonment for rape.

He will serve another 12 years direct imprisonment for four counts of unlawful possession of ammunition, two years direct imprisonment for escaping from custody and two years direct imprisonment for being in the country illegally.

Chauke pleaded guilty to all the charges.

He was meant to serve a 15-year sentence at Kgosi Maphuru Correctional Services for housebreaking and robbery with aggravating circumstances but escaped in December 2020 after serving only two months.

Following the escape, Chauke and his accomplices committed crimes in and around Olievenhoutbosch and Wierda Park using the same modus operandi of breaking into their victims’ houses to rob and taking females to a nearby bush where they would gang-rape them.