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Man Found Guilty Of Rape, Mutilation That Shocked South Africa
30/10/2013
JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) - A South African court found a 21-year-old man guilty on Tuesday of the rape, mutilation and murder of a teenager in a case that shocked a nation with one of the world's highest levels of sexual violence.
The 17-year-old victim, Anene Booysen, was found at a building site in the town of Bredasdorp, 130 km (80 miles) east of Cape Town, in February with wounds that included a slit from her stomach down to her genitals.
Johannes Kana confessed to raping Booysen but denied disembowelling her. Sentencing is expected on Wednesday.
The attack came shortly after the gang rape and murder of a 23-year-old student on a New Delhi bus at the end of 2012 that caused outcry and mass protests in India at endemic violence against women.
Amid some of the biggest anti-rape campaigns in years in South Africa, President Jacob Zuma expressed "shock and outrage" at Booysen's murder and called for the harshest possible sentences for her attackers.
Unlike India, South Africa does not have the death penalty.
There are about 180 reported rapes a day in South Africa, a nation of 53 million people, although the real total is believed to be far higher. Few suspects are ever arrested, and only 12 percent of cases brought to court end in conviction.
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