VIRGINIA BEACH, Va. – A man will spend the rest of his life in prison after several trials for rape and attempted rape in Virginia Beach and North Carolina.
Lesiba Simon Matsoake
In a case that ended Tuesday, Lesiba Simon Matsoake, 42 years old, was found guilty of Abduction with Intent to Defile. The judge imposed the maximum sentence of life in prison.
The Commonwealth’s evidence showed that just after midnight on February 2, 2004, a woman was walking alone at the Oceanfront near 24th Street when she was grabbed by Matsoake. He dragged her to the ground, began choking her, and pulled off her pants. A resident of a nearby home heard her screaming and Matsoake eventually fled. The victim was able to preserve seminal fluid left on her leg by her attacker and forensics technicians collected it.
The fluid was submitted to the Department of Forensic Science for examination. A DNA match was made to Lesiba Simon Matsoake.
In 2007, Matsoake’s wife told police that Matsoake had confessed to some sexual assaults in North Carolina.
When police came to question Matsoake, they learned he had fled to his native country of South Africa.
Authorities had Matsoake extradited to the United States in 2012.
Matsoake is also serving a 20 to 25 year prison sentence for a 2003 rape in North Carolina. He is also serving life for a forcible sodomy that occurred on December 10, 2006 in Virginia Beach and 40 years for a forcible sodomy that occurred on June 11, 2004 in Virginia Beach.
Matsoake’s sentence in total is two life terms plus 60 to 65 years in prison.
Judge Lilley heard testimony from two of Matsoake’s previous victims as well as the victim of the 2004 Abduction with the Intent to Defile case.
Upon pronouncing his sentence, Judge Les Lilley told Matsoake, “the danger you represent to the peace and safety to our community and society as a whole is extraordinary, and you have lost your privilege to be part of society.”
