The disgraced boxer is a former SA, IBO and WBC Silver champion and had been expected to move into the elite of his division in the coming months. He is a regular on social media where he often shares pictures of him with his partner and son.As reported by news website Dispatch Live, Sonjica, 28-years-old, was found guilty last year of raping a minor after he dragged a teenage girl into a Duncan Village shack and sexually violated her.
Yesterday, magistrate Ignatius Kitching, sitting in the East London Regional Court, sentenced him to six years imprisonment.
“People expect the court to do more than pay lip service in the fight against rape. Because people in communities are so fed up with crime they end up taking the law into their own hands” commented Kitching.
Kitching said he agreed with Sonjica’s attorney, Thembekile Malusi, that Thabo should not be “sacrificed at the alter of retribution.”
“The probation officers and your attorney said you would be a suitable candidate for a community-based sentence and not a custodial sentence.”
“When the complainant’s father came to report the matter at your home, she and her parents were humiliated by being accused of wanting money from you” he said.
Kitching said the girl was wearing a school uniform and her father had sent her to the shops when Sonjica pulled her into a nearby shack. Once in the shack, Sonjica’s friends allegedly closed the door.
Sonjica, who even with his trial looming was calling out men like Leo Santa Cruz and Carl Frampton, hasn’t boxed since June of last year and will probably never box again if made to serve his full sentence.