Nkomazi serial rapist handed four life sentences

Serial rapist Given Mnisi (42) was handed four life sentences by the Mpumalanga Division of the High Court in Mbombela on Monday May 13.

A provincial police spokesperson, Colonel Donald Mdhluli, said the court heard how Mnisi had preyed on defenceless young girls and women, mostly in the Nkomazi area, for five years, between 2010 and 2015.

Mdhluli said on November 1, 2010, Mnisi had raped a 15-year-old girl, who was returning home from church at the time of the incident, twice at an unfinished house in Mangweni near Tonga.

On March 30, 2011, at about 20:00, a 20-year-old woman was returning from buying bread at a spaza shop when Mnisi suddenly appeared, grabbed her by the neck, pulled out a firearm and threatened to kill her. Mnisi told her he had already killed other women who did not co-operate with him. He then stabbed her elbows with a knife and dragged her to some nearby bushes where he raped her.

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On August 24, 2012, Mnisi raped a girl 13-year-old girl in Block B near Tonga at about 20:00. Mdhluli said the girl had been playing outside the gate to her home when Mnisi emerged and grabbed her. He had also threatened to kill her. He took her to a certain house and raped her.

In Boschfontein on December 8, 2012, Mnisi raped a 16-year-old girl. The victim was asleep inside the house with her four-year-old brother. Her mother was also at home, but was in poor health. Mnisi managed to enter the house at about 01:00 and raped the girl before fleeing the scene.

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On November 2, 2013, Mnisi raped a 15-year-old girl in Naas near Tonga. The girl was sleeping at home when she was attacked by Mnisi and an accomplice. The two men broke into the house and forcefully dragged the 15-year-old outside into an unfinished house. The accomplice is said to have left before Mnisi raped her. There was no further information about the accomplice in the press statement.

On September 8, 2015, Mnisi raped a 19-year-old woman in Block C near Tonga at about 22:00. Mdhluli said the victim was returning from evening classes at a school where she was learning. She was attacked by Mnisi, who was in possession of a knife. During the process, he robbed her of a cellphone as well as an undisclosed amount of cash, then dragged her into nearby bushes and raped her.

Mnisi was finally caught when on June 29, 2022, he raped a 15-year-old girl in Germiston, Gauteng. Mdhluli said the girl had reportedly visited a sangoma and asked for assistance in getting a job. Upon her arrival, Mnisi, known in the area as Given Mnisi, ordered the victim to remove her clothes and to wear the traditional blankets he offered her. It is as yet unclear whether Mnisi was posing as a sangoma or not.

After changing the clothes, Mnisi offered her some liquid substance to drink before he took her documents. The girl passed out and later awoke to Mnisi raping her. After the incident, she went to report the rape to the Primrose SAPS.

Mnisi was arrested on July 2, 2022, but was granted R1 000 bail.

Mdhluli said the Family Violence, Child Protection and Sexual Offences (FCS) Unit in Mpumalanga continued to work around the clock in their investigation and gathered enough information that pointed to Mnisi being the perpetrator of a series of rapes reported around Nkomazi.

He said when Mnisi appeared in the Germiston Magistrate’s Court in January 2023 for the last mentioned case, the Mpumalanga FCS Unit nabbed him and charged him for the rapes committed in various policing precincts in the Nkomazi area. “The accused was brought before court and the State presented a watertight case against him,” said Mdhluli.

On May 7 this year, Mnisi pleaded guilty to all charges levelled against him, though his defence attorneys successfully negotiated for the withdrawal of some of the other charges that had been reported, except for the rape charges. This resulted in him being convicted.

Mnisi was sentenced as follows:
• On count 2 of rape: life imprisonment
• On count 6 of rape: life imprisonment
• On count 8 of rape: life imprisonment
• On count 12 of rape: life imprisonment
• On count 15 of rape: life imprisonment.
The court ordered that the sentences on counts 6, 8, 12 and 15 run concurrently with the sentence on count 2.