The District Court in Gulmi has sentenced 40-year-old Dev Bahadur Thapa of Thulolumphek-1 to 26 years in jail along with forfeiture of his property on a rape and murder charge. Thapa raped and subsequently murdered a 59-year-old differently-abled woman at Harmichaur-3 on August 6 last year. A single bench of Judge Rishi Ram Acharya gave the verdict against the accused on Wednesday, the court's Registrar Shyam Bihari Mourya said. Thapa raped the victim while there was no one at her home and later bludgeoned her to death. He was sent to jail after the court's ruling.