Kgahledi Raphela, a 44-year-old man from Malungane Village in Namakgale, Limpopo, has been sentenced to 20 years imprisonment for four counts of rape.
The sentence was handed down by the Polokwane high court in Limpopo on Monday.
According to the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA), Raphela pleaded guilty to all counts, and in his plea agreement, he stated that between January 2018 and November 2021, in Phalaborwa, he offered different adult women (the victims) a lift on a public road as they were hitchhiking.
NPA spokesperson Mashudu Malabi-Dzhangi said the convict would drive to the nearby bushes and threatened his victims with a knife before raping them.
“The victims are not known to each other, and the accused was linked through the DNA in these offences,” said Malabi-Dzhangi.
In court, state Advocate Muneiwa Ratshibvumo submitted that the accused has a previous conviction of escaping from lawful custody, and that shows how dangerous he is.
Ratshibvumo further told the court that the victims are women, and they need to be protected against the conduct of men who behave in a barbaric manner and threaten women like the accused did.
“The court has sentenced the accused to 10 years for count one of rape, 10 years for count two of rape, 10 years for count three of rape, and 10 years to count four of rape, and further ordered that the sentence for count two to run concurrently with the sentence in count one and the sentence in count four to run concurrently with the sentence in count three,” Malabi-Dzhangi said.
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