File
A Zimbabwean national who was in the country illegally according to police, was given two life sentences for crimes that he committed after escaping from one of the country’s maximum security prisons.
The National Prosecuting Authority said that 34-year-old Leonard Chauke was also given a hefty jail sentence of 226 years of direct imprisonment following his conviction on charges that included murder, rape, kidnapping, illegal possession of firearms and ammunition, and being in the country illegally.
NPA spokesperson, Lumka Mahanjana, said Chauke was serving a 15-year sentence at Kgosi Mamphuru Correctional Centre for housebreaking and robbery with aggravating circumstances, when he escaped in December 2020, just two months into his sentence.
She said after his escape, Chauke and his accomplices committed crimes in and around Olievenhoutbosch and Wierda Park, breaking into people’s homes and gang-raping women victims.
The murder conviction relates to the shooting of a 35-year-old man in an informal settlement in Olievenhoutbosch after which Chauke was arrested.
Mahanjana said he pleaded guilty to all the charges against him, saying he committed the crimes while under the influence of drugs.
She said the NPA welcomed the sentence.
