Serial rapist Nkosinathi Phakathi was on Tuesday found guilty of 148 charges including 89 of rape and four of forcing minors to rape.
The 38-year-old Phakathi, who initially faced 203 charges, last week pleaded guilty to 148 charges which he committed from June 1 2012 to March 12 2021. He was arrested on March 17 2021 in Etwatwa, Daveyton in Ekurhuleni after one of his victims spotted him in the area.
The majority of his victims were children, with the youngest being nine years old. Acting judge Lesego Makolomakwe handed down her judgment at the Johannesburg High Court sitting at Palm Ridge magistrate’s court in Ekurhuleni and postponed the case to December for sentencing.
Phakathi, who evaded arrest for nine years, attacked girls and women on their way to school or work; in their homes after posing as a handyman, electrician or municipal official in Etwatwa, Daveyton, Putfontein, Wattville and Crystal Park, all in Ekurhuleni.
Some of his victims were forced to witness the rape, including three-year-olds and a nine-year-old boy, who were in the same room, or forced to lie next to their sisters, aunts, mothers or friends. Others were compelled to rape their peers.
Just a few days before he was arrested in 2021, Phakathi had committed seven rapes.
He has been detained at the Modderbee Correctional Services Centre hospital after he was shot in the leg, which has since been amputated, while attempting to flee arrest.
According to police investigations, Phakathi has been linked to the rape charges through DNA analysis and modus operandi.
A father who has daughters and whose young neighbour was raped by Phakathi said his family is lucky that its children were not the victims of Phakathi’s gruesome crimes.
“This is so close to home. I see and deal with the devastation that this man has caused each day,” he told Sunday World when Phakathi’s trial resumed at the Benoni magistrate’s court in May, before it was transferred to the high court in Johannesburg.
“It is heartbreaking that his victims will relieve the trauma again … We find comfort that he is in jail and will never hurt another child or woman again,” he said.
Also read: Scars left by serial rapist still linger
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