A South African man found guilty of the rape and
brutal murder of a 17-year-old girl has been
sentenced to two life terms in prison by a court
near Cape Town.
State prosecutors had requested this sentence - without
parole - for 21-year-old Johannes Kana.
Anene Booysen died in February, hours after she was
mutilated in a case that caused national outrage.
South Africa has one of the highest rates of sexual
violence in the world.
'Shocking and inhumane'
The BBC's Nomsa Maseko at the court in Swellendam,
220km (136 miles) from Cape Town, says Kana's uncle
clapped his hands and laughed as the judge announced
the sentence.
"This is a joke," he said, adding that the system was
unjust.
Many of those attending the trial feel justice has been
served, our correspondent says.
But some in the community have raised questions
about whether Kana was the only person involved in
the attack as Ms Booysen told police before she died
that there were several assailants, our reporter says.
She was left for dead at a construction site near her
house in Bredasdorp and later died in a Cape Town
hospital after she had been raped and disembowelled.
At the time President Jacob Zuma described the attack
as "shocking, cruel and most inhumane".
He called for courts to impose the "harshest sentences"
for sexual crimes.
Anene Booysen's rape and murder outraged South
Africans
During the trial, doctors who treated Ms Booysen
described her horrific injuries - one said they were the
worst injuries she had ever seen.
Just before she died, she said in hospital that five or six
men had been involved in the attack.
But state prosecutors say that at the time she was
intoxicated, in pain and under heavy medication so she
may have been confused.
Three suspects were initially arrested but only Kana
stood trial.
He confessed to raping Ms Booysen but denied killing
her.
Meanwhile, charges against four of five men accused of
kidnapping, raping and killing two young girls in
Diepsloot, a shanty town north of Johannesburg, were
withdrawn at the Pretoria Magistrate's Court on Friday.
The state prosecutor said evidence showed the men
were not in Diepsloot at the time of the crime last
month.
A fifth man remains in custody and the case was
postponed until 27 November to allow for further
investigation.
Last year, South African police figures show that
64,000 incidents of rape were reported last year.
Police say that a child is raped every three minutes in
the country.
brutal murder of a 17-year-old girl has been
sentenced to two life terms in prison by a court
near Cape Town.
State prosecutors had requested this sentence - without
parole - for 21-year-old Johannes Kana.
Anene Booysen died in February, hours after she was
mutilated in a case that caused national outrage.
South Africa has one of the highest rates of sexual
violence in the world.
'Shocking and inhumane'
The BBC's Nomsa Maseko at the court in Swellendam,
220km (136 miles) from Cape Town, says Kana's uncle
clapped his hands and laughed as the judge announced
the sentence.
"This is a joke," he said, adding that the system was
unjust.
Many of those attending the trial feel justice has been
served, our correspondent says.
But some in the community have raised questions
about whether Kana was the only person involved in
the attack as Ms Booysen told police before she died
that there were several assailants, our reporter says.
She was left for dead at a construction site near her
house in Bredasdorp and later died in a Cape Town
hospital after she had been raped and disembowelled.
At the time President Jacob Zuma described the attack
as "shocking, cruel and most inhumane".
He called for courts to impose the "harshest sentences"
for sexual crimes.
Anene Booysen's rape and murder outraged South
Africans
During the trial, doctors who treated Ms Booysen
described her horrific injuries - one said they were the
worst injuries she had ever seen.
Just before she died, she said in hospital that five or six
men had been involved in the attack.
But state prosecutors say that at the time she was
intoxicated, in pain and under heavy medication so she
may have been confused.
Three suspects were initially arrested but only Kana
stood trial.
He confessed to raping Ms Booysen but denied killing
her.
Meanwhile, charges against four of five men accused of
kidnapping, raping and killing two young girls in
Diepsloot, a shanty town north of Johannesburg, were
withdrawn at the Pretoria Magistrate's Court on Friday.
The state prosecutor said evidence showed the men
were not in Diepsloot at the time of the crime last
month.
A fifth man remains in custody and the case was
postponed until 27 November to allow for further
investigation.
Last year, South African police figures show that
64,000 incidents of rape were reported last year.
Police say that a child is raped every three minutes in
the country.
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