Africa-Press – South-Africa. A Daveyton magistrate afforded an alleged Ekurhuleni serial rapist two weeks to study a summary of the 145 charges he faces.
The Prasa security guard and part-time law student can only be named when he has pleaded to the charges.
The matter was initially set down for a bail application.
However, it could not proceed after Isaac Mathe, representing the alleged rapist, told the court he was not ready.
“We have been given the summary of the charges. My client said he needed time to go through that summary. We request a further remand before bringing a bail application,” said Mathe.
The prosecutor, Terence Marx, did not object to the defence’s plea.
The magistrate, Vinny Govind, told the packed courtroom that the accused faced 145 charges, including rape, kidnapping, pointing of a firearm, pointing a person with an object resembling a gun, and sexual offences.
Govind added that the charges were Schedule 6 offences.
“The onus is on the applicant to discharge exceptional circumstances and satisfy the court that it is in the interest of justice for him to be granted bail,” said Govind.
The accused was arrested on 23 January following an intensive investigation by the police.
His alleged raping spree began on 18 September 2018, until 15 January 2023.
The youngest complainants were 14 and 15 years old.
News24 understands that some of the complainants were repeatedly raped.
They were either on their way home or at work when raped.
The accused allegedly pretended to be offering his victims a lift, but they were then threatened with a firearm and raped.
During his arrest, police found a firearm – and they drove to the secluded area where the rapes were said to have happened.
He allegedly used a similar modus operandi in Benoni, Daveyton, Putfontein and Tembisa.
The man has been positively identified by 24 victims.
He is expected back in the Daveyton Magistrate’s Court on 18 April.
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