Rapist sentenced to eight life terms
The Mpumalanga High Court of South Africa sentenced a 37-year-old man, Thabiso Oscar Mathumba of Acornhoek, to eight life terms and a further 46 years imprisonment for various crimes.
Mathumba was convicted on eight counts of rape, one count of compelled rape, one count of armed robbery, two counts of assault with an intention to cause grievous bodily harm, housebreaking with an intention to rape, pointing of a firearm and one count of compelling children to witness a sexual offence. Mathumba committed the crimes between 2014 and 2017.
He would follow unsuspecting victims walking in the streets in Acornhoek during late hours. He attacked his victims with bottles, held them at gunpoint or stabbed them, then dragged them into the bushes where he raped them. Mathumba’s youngest victim was a 12-year-old girl whom he raped during daylight.
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Evidence brought in court also stated that Mathumba raped one of his victims in front of her young siblings after breaking into their house. He was arrested in 2019 after the rape of a victim who was able to identify him to the police.
DNA results matched him to the crimes. He pleaded not guilty. He alleged that he committed the rapes because of the anger which was caused by his parents’ separation almost 27 years ago.
The acting judge, Johanna Mthimunye, sentenced Mathumba to life imprisonment on each count of rape and a further 46 years imprisonment on the other counts.
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The judge also ordered that the accused’s name be entered into the National Register for Sexual Offenders. He was further declared unsuitable to work with children and also unfit to possess a firearm.
“The NPA attributes this sentence to the collaborated efforts of the justice cluster in maintaining law and order and in ensuring that justice prevails for the victims of gender-based violence,” said Monica Nyuswa, spokesperson of NPA.
