The Nelspruit Regional Court hands serial rapist two life terms and 40 years imprisonment
The court declared him unfit to possess a firearm and ordered that his name be entered into the national register for sexual offenders.
Petros Mfanimpela Ngwenya (32), who had been preying on women for two years, was handed a lengthy jail sentence in the Nelspruit Regional Court today.
Ngwenya, who lived in Thembisa Trust in Pienaar, was sentenced to two life terms and 40 years’ imprisonment for rape and robbery with aggravating circumstances.
He was convicted on three counts of rape, in which one victim was a minor, and two counts of robbery with aggravating circumstances.
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According to testimony presented in court, Ngwenya would target women during late afternoons, make their acquaintance and lure them to secluded areas in KaBokweni after gaining their trust, and then rape them.
All the crimes were committed from May 2017 to April 2019.
According to the National Prosecution Authority’s spokesperson, Monica Nyuswa, on April 27, 2019, he assaulted a 22-year-old woman before dragging her into the bush and raping her numerous times.
“He also took the victim’s handbag, two cell phones, R16,00 in cash and fled the scene, leaving her there. As she emerged from the bush after the attack, she flagged down a passing police vehicle and reported the incident.”
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She positively identified Ngwenya as her attacker and he was found in possession of her cell phone.
“DNA samples were taken and he was positively linked to other crimes,” Nyuswa added.
Ngwenya pleaded guilty to all the charges in court and the prosecutor, Rendani Nthangeni, called the victims to testify in aggravation of sentence about the ordeals they had endured at his hands.
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“Ngwenya was sentenced to life imprisonment in respect of rape of a minor and another life sentence for raping a 22-year-old. He was also sentenced to 10 years’ imprisonment for another rape and another 15 years’ imprisonment on each count of robbery with aggravating circumstances,” Nyuswa continued.
The court declared him unfit to possess a firearm and ordered that his name be entered into the national register for sexual offenders.
