Jamie Goba, 19, was found guilty on Monday of raping and robbing a Mary Waters High School pupil in April last year after he pleaded guilty on all charges.
Jamie Goba, 19, was found guilty on Monday of raping and robbing a Mary Waters High School pupil in April last year after he pleaded guilty on all charges.
Goba, and co-accused Christo Bosch, 19, Deon Walters, 25, and Justin Goba, 21, appeared in the High Court in Grahamstown on two counts of robbery with aggravating circumstances, rape, and assault with intent to do grievous bodily harm.
The charges stem from the brutal rape of the teenager in a deserted house in Fitchat Street, in April last year.
Defence counsel Francois Human read the plea explanation in court. In it, Goba explains that he and his co-accused were in a tavern in Hoogenoeg, where they drank five litres of wine. On their way to Albany Lounge, Justin Goba had wanted to relieve himself. They all went to a deserted house, where they found the teenager and a man kissing.
The statement described how they had attacked and robbed the man – “we assaulted him until he was unconscious” – and proceeded to gang-rape the girl.
According to earlier evidence, the couple were returning home from a local bar in the early hours. On the way, they stopped and entered a deserted house. Goba and his co-accused, it was alleged, entered the house from the back and threatened the couple with knives, before dragging the girl to another room and tying her hands behind her back. They then gang-raped her, it was alleged.
The girl ran home and told her father what had happened. She was examined and treated and her 30-year-old companion was taken to hospital with head injuries.
After Jamie Goba pleaded guilty to all charges, acting judge Zolile Dukada pronounced him guilty and set down sentencing for 10 August.
The trial of the other three accused, who have pleaded not guilty, will be heard by another judge in another court.
If the other three are also convicted of rape, all four face potential life sentences, because the victim was raped more that once, by more than one person, acting in execution of a common purpose.
