A man has been found guilty of the strangling killing of 16-year-old gay Potchefstroom school pupil, Lesley Makousa.

On Friday, David Shomolekae was sentenced by the Potchefstroom High Court to life imprisonment for the murder of the Grade 10 learner. The 31-year-old was the day before found guilty on three charges, including murder, robbery and housebreaking.

Thabiso Mogapi wa Tsotetsi, Chairperson of Action For Social Justice International, told Mambaonline he was very satisfied with the outcome of the case.

“This should send a strong message that the LGBT community needs to be respected and their rights need to be respected,” said Tsotetsi. Tsotetsi, who testified in the case about the vulnerability of LGBT people in the area, believes that Makousa’s sexuality played a part in his killing. He explained that while the killer never admitted to the murder in court, evidence was introduced that he told other inmates that he killed “a crippled gay boy”.

Potchefstroom has been the site of a number of recent attacks against members of the LGBT community. In April, a 22-year-old young lesbian woman was attacked by three men while she was talking on her phone outside her home in Mohadin. She was dragged to a stretch of veld, where they assaulted her. Two of the men took turns to rape her. Read more via MambaOnline