The Rosedale house where the tragedy happened
Picture: Eugene Coetzee
The six men and a woman who were part of the brutal gang rape and murder of a six-year-old girl and her aunt during a burglary two years ago have been sentenced in the Grahamstown High Court.
Lukishia Plaatjies, 6, and her aunt Claudia Antonie, 41, were raped and murdered in Rosedale, Hankey in August 2014.
On Friday, the court sentenced Andrew Plaatjies, 24, Elrico Plaatjies, 25, William Daniels, 27 and Leolynn Daniels, 26, to life imprisonment for raping Lukishia
Arnold Potgieter and and Neil Potgieter, both 25, received a double life sentence for raping and murdering Antonie.
Rina Pietersen, 23, was sentenced to 15 years for the murder.
They were found guilty in March.
While the motive remained unclear, it appeared the group broke into the house over a weekend to continue a late-night drinking spree.
After the gruesome rape and murder, the gang set the house alight and fled.
Once residents and firefighters doused the flames, the victims’ naked bodies were found in the partly gutted home.
The postmortem report showed Antonie was stabbed several times and that Lukishia was believed to have been strangled.
Lukishia Plaatjies
Claudia Antonie
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