Plett parolee gets life for rape of boy, 11

A Plettenberg Bay man out on parole for rape was sentenced to life imprisonment after he was convicted of raping an 11year-old boy who was walking home from school.

Randall Booysen earlier pleaded guilty in the town’s regional court to having raped the boy on August 23 2019, in bushes along the N2 highway.

State prosecutor Johannes Jurie Marx said a security guard at the victim’s school had sent the grade 4 pupil to a shop to buy him a cooldrink.

When the child returned, his transport had already left and he decided to walk home.

Along the way, he came across an intoxicated Booysen heading home from a tavern.

Booysen told the court that after asking the boy for R5, he had dragged him into the bushes through an opening in the fence next to the road.

He stumbled over, knocking the boy to the ground, then raped him.

Booysen was arrested after being linked to the incident through DNA evidence.

He said he was aware the victim was a minor and therefore could not consent to sex.

And though he consumed alcohol before the incident, he had control over his actions and could distinguish between right and wrong.

Marx said it was in the best interest of society for perpetrators of such crimes to be locked away for lengthy periods so a clear message could be sent as a deterrent.

He further argued in aggravation of sentence that the child had been left traumatised.

He said the accused was previously convicted of rape and had been on parole at the time.

The crime carried a prescribed minimum sentence of life imprisonment.

Western Cape director of public prosecutions advocate Nicolette Bell said the state would continue to do everything in its power to ensure the perpetrators of such heinous crimes received the harshest possible sentences.