Man gets life sentence for stabbing 11-year-old girl 66 times after her mother rejected him

A South African man, Conwell Mongezi Chauke, has been sentenced to life imprisonment for the brutal murder of an 11-year-old girl.
Chauke, 34, stabbed Khothatso Welhelmina Tshabalala 66 times after her mother rejected his romantic advances.
The North Gauteng High Court in Pretoria also sentenced Chauke, of Loftus Gardens, to six years in prison for the kidnapping.
The court ruled that the sentence would run concurrently and that he would be declared unfit to possess a firearm.
National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) spokesperson for the Gauteng Division, Lumka Mahanjana, said in a statement on Monday, September 16, 2024, that Chauke was in a prayer group with the child’s mother.
According to Mahanjana, Tshabalala was murdered on December 29, 2020 after her mother received a threatening phone call from Chauke.
“On December 29, 2020, the deceased’s mother received a phone call while she was at work from Chauke, who was her prayer group member and prayer partner. Chauke then began threatening the mother over the phone because she had not agreed to meet with him the previous day and believed she was fooling him because he was interested in a romantic relationship with her,” the statement said.
“On the afternoon of the same day, Chauke went to Mamelodi East, where the minor child and her mother were staying. When he arrived, he found the child playing with her younger sister and the neighbour’s child outside the neighbour’s house.
“He then lured the child under the pretense that he wanted to get his belongings from her house. When they entered her house, Chauke stabbed the child sixty-six times, covered her body with linen on her bed and fled the scene.
“When neighbours were unable to find the child, they went to her home to search for her and found her dead body on top of her bed. Police were called and two days after the incident, on 31 December 2020, Chauke handed himself in at Lyttleton Police Station and has been in custody ever since.
“In court, Chauke denied kidnapping the child and pleaded guilty only to murder. He attributed his actions to the anger he felt towards the child’s mother.
“However, the State has presented evidence that Chauke did in fact lure and abduct the child.
“During the criminal proceedings, his lawyer asked the court to take into account the 3 years he had spent in prison awaiting the completion of his trial when imposing the sentence. Although he has a previous conviction for theft, he is a first offender of violent crimes.
“In raising the penalty, the prosecutor, advocate Sipho Lalane, argued that although Chauke pleaded guilty to the charge of murder, he showed no remorse, but rather regretted his actions.
“Furthermore, Adv Lalane said, Chauke was convicted of a serious offence that is common in the county. He stabbed and killed a minor child. The child was defenceless, vulnerable and unable to protect herself because her mother did not agree to his pursuit of a loving relationship.
Lalani also filed two victim impact statements, in which the deceased’s mother indicated that she had been mentally ill since her child’s murder and that Chauke had taken her best friend with her.
“In her VIS, the deceased sister mentioned that she is always lonely because she has no one to play with as the deceased was also a friend to her. She also added that her school performance has deteriorated after the loss of her sister.
“In passing sentence, Judge Jacobus Johannes Strijdom agreed with the state that Chauke had been convicted of a serious crime that violated the deceased’s constitutional right to life.
“Furthermore, he was merciless when he stabbed the child sixty-six times, which shows that he is a danger to society and that it is the responsibility of the court to protect society from criminals like him.
“Moreover, the interest of justice outweighs his circumstances. The court has therefore not found any substantial and compelling circumstances that would lead to a deviation from the prescribed minimum sentence.
“The National Public Prosecution Service (NPA) welcomes the ruling and hopes that it sends a strong signal that the NPA will ensure that perpetrators who commit such violent crimes against women and children have no place in society.”