Africa-Press – South-Africa. The Mpumalanga High Court in Mbombela has handed three life sentences to a man for a series of rapes that were committed in Barberton between 2014 and 2020.
According to National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) spokesperson Monica Nyuswa, two of the victims are his siblings.
They shared a home with the man, and one of the victims was underaged at the time of the incident.
The 30-year-old man, whose identity has been withheld to protect the victims, has been handed an additional 15-year sentence for robbery, according to Nyuswa.
How safe is your neighbourhood? Find out by using News24’s CrimeCheck
In one incident in 2014, the man called one of his sisters to the lounge and demanded that she give him blood from her menstruation, said Nyuswa.
“He then ordered the victim to stab him with a knife so that he could mix their blood. The victim complied, and [the man] mixed their blood with an unknown substance in a container and ordered the victim to go to the bedroom, where he raped her,” said Nyuswa.
The court heard that in 2017, he attacked a 24-year-old woman who was on her way to the toilet while attending a friend’s party. He took her to a nearby river and forced her to perform oral sex while he recorded it on a cellphone.
Nyuswa said:
In 2020, he and his other sister went to the shop. He took her to a nearby dam and threatened her with an axe before raping her.
He was arrested shortly afterward.
“In court, the accused claimed consent with one of the victims, and the State, led by senior state advocate Themba Lusenga, led the testimony of several witnesses, including the… sisters, who told the court how the events unfolded. Their evidence was supported by positive DNA tests, which linked the accused to the crime of rape,” said Nyuswa.
During sentencing, Judge Takalani Vincent Ratshibvumo found no substantial and compelling circumstances to justify deviation from the prescribed minimum sentence.
The judge ordered that the man’s name be added to the National Register for Sex Offenders, and he was declared unfit to work with children.
For More News And Analysis About South-Africa Follow Africa-Press
