She has been working tirelessly on a case and, at last, Sgt Zelpha Seema’s hard work has been rewarded.
The Germiston FCS (Family Violence, Child Protection and Sexual Offences) Unit member is thrilled with the sentences handed down to Phindile Gononda (32) in the Palm Ridge Magistrates Court, recently.
Gononda was on trial for two separate incidents; the first a rape, and the second a rape and robbery.
The crimes took place in 2009 and he was arrested in the same year.
However, a mix-up with the docket at court saw him being released, and after Seema was given the docket to investigate she managed to trace him to Thokoza and he was rearrested in 2014.
“I positively linked his DNA to both cases,” she said.
“He targeted the women in JG Strydom Street, in Brackendowns, Alberton, as they were walking to work and forced them into the veld and raped them.”
Gononda was jailed for 25 years on the first rape charge, and 25 years for rape and five years for robbery in the second case, to run concurrently.
“I am very happy about the conviction,” Seema said.
“Even though it won’t bring back what he took from those women, it is good to see that justice was served.”
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