Ekurhuleni serial rapist claims evil spirits made him do it

During sentencing proceedings, the Pretoria High Court sitting at the Palm Ridge Magistrate’s yesterday (September 26) heard that Nkosinathi Phakathi, dubbed the Ekurhuleni serial rapist, believes he was possessed by evil spirits when he raped his victims between 2012 and 2021.

This was revealed by Dr Lynette Roux, a clinical psychologist who presented a psychosocial report following numerous consultations she had with Phakathi.

In November last year, Phakathi was found guilty of 148 charges relating to rape, kidnapping, theft and assault with the intent to cause grievous bodily harm.

He was found guilty of 90 charges of rape, compelled rape (four), causing a child to witness a sexual act (three), kidnapping (43), theft (four), sexual assault (two) and assault with the intent to cause grievous bodily harm (two).

During his sentencing proceedings, Phakathi said his criminal behaviour started in 2012 when he struggled to sleep and would sleepwalk in the early hours of the morning, between 02:00 and 03:00. He would “go anywhere” and when he was tired, at around 05:00 or 06:00, would, subsequently, rape his victims.

Phakathi confessed that he raped every three to four months.

He said this strange act was caused by ancestral spirits who were angry with him due to a surname change. This comes after he discovered that he had a different father from his seven siblings.

Roux said Phakathi would have an urge to walk and he couldn’t stop the pressure he was feeling to walk.

“He heard a voice in his head instructing him what to do and would continue to walk until sunrise. He claims that this force or voice in his heard would indicate to him who he should rape. He preferred not to walk in the streets, but bushes.”

Phakathi said that on a particular day in 2012, he saw a girl walking and he approached her and started to engage her. He then pushed her to a nearby bush where he instructed the girl to lie down and he began to touch her with his penis. He said he did not penetrate her.

“He stayed away from work for a week because he didn’t understand what he was doing. He wanted to tell his mother and girlfriend what was happening, however, he could not because he was a father to a daughter and he knew they wouldn’t understand,” said Roux.

Phakathi said he prayed a lot to fight the spirits and even went to the extent of consulting a prophet and performing traditional rituals.

He was linked to the cases through DNA and modus operandi.

Phakathi pretended to install meter boxes or geysers or said he was a house inspector or a food distributor or someone looking for directions when approaching his victims.

He would allegedly rob and rape his victims while threatening to kill them if they reported the matter to the police. He was arrested in March 2021, in Barcelona, Etwatwa.

The sentencing proceedings were postponed to tomorrow (September 27).

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