Child rapist Thabo Ditinti (32), a taxi driver of 3rd Avenue who admitted to raping three Alex school girls in separate incidents at the Marlboro cemetery in 2015, was sentenced to three life sentences by Alex Magistrates’ Court.
Ditinti, who is said to have children of his own, and at the time was in a steady relationship, was sentenced on 20 March by magistrate Gideon Schneitler, with Jacqui Letsoalo as the state prosecutor. The sentence includes adding his name to the register of sexual offenders, and he is banned from working with children and possessing a firearm.
Read: Child rapist, guilty
He was arrested early in the morning of 30 September 2015, at the cemetery by patrolling Joburg Metro Police officers, who caught him raping a 10-year-old victim red-handed. The arrest and subsequent investigation revealed two previous rapes of a six-year-old girl on 22 September, and the rape of a seven-year-old victim on 28 September – all without using a condom.
Medical tests on the victims and DNA results, along with his identification by the victims, cemented the conviction.
Read: 12 years for child rape
He lured the little girls by offering them free morning rides to school, only to deviate from their school routes to the cemetery where he threatened and raped them before dropping them off somewhere else.
In mitigation, Ditinti claimed evil spirits led him to commit the crimes, including the previously recorded ones of robbery, committed in 2009, for which it wasn’t stated if he served his sentence; and another for assault, for which he was fined.
The rape victims and their families received trauma counselling from NPO Women and Men Against Child Abuse.
