Serial rapist Jacob Kgatlane was on Friday sentenced to four life terms and 80 years in jail by the Brits magistrate’s court.
Kgatlane was found guilty of 10 counts of rape and nine counts of robbery with aggravating circumstances.
Lumka Mahanjana, the spokesperson for the National Prosecuting Authority, said Kgatlane, who has been in prison since 2013, raped 14 women between 2009 and 2013. Six of his victims were below 18 years and the youngest was 14. The oldest victim was aged 37.
“He raped most of his victims at night. He would target women while walking at night, threaten them with a knife or tell them [that] he has a gun. He would then drag them to nearby bushes, stadium toilets or abandoned buildings, where he raped them,” said Mahanjana.
Kgatlane’s legal representative pleaded mercy and asked for a lighter sentence, but the state prosecutor told the court that women have a right to walk freely on the streets, go and come back from work without fear.
The state prosecutor then asked the court to impose the prescribed minimum sentence.
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