The Pretoria High Court on Thursday convicted Wellington Kachidza to six life terms and 192 years behind bars.
Zimbabwean national Kachidza, 28, was found guilty of 34 charges that included rape, murder, kidnapping and robbery. The crimes, which took place around Pretoria, were committed between January 2018 and December 2019.
Kachidza was arrested in January 2020 following a police intelligence-driven operation. He was later positively linked to the rapes through DNA evidence.
Gauteng regional spokesperson for the director of public prosecutions, Lumka Mahanjana, said: “This is where [Pretoria] he used the method to lure male victims, pretending to ask for their assistance with driving. He would kidnap them and demand ransom money from their families.
“After the money had been paid, he would then kill them. The reported course of death based on post-mortems for the victims was head injury or trauma to the head.”
With his female victims, it is alleged that Kachidza would lure them with job offers, drive with them to the bush and rape them. He would then rob them and escape with their belongings.
The prosecutor, advocate Pieter Coetzer, argued that Kachidza was motivated by greed. “It was also argued on behalf of the state that Kachidza had brutally slaughtered his victims and that his actions had a severe impact on the lives of the rape victims, as well as the family members of the deceased,” said Coetzer.
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