KZN serial rapist gets 10 life sentences, 59 more for robbery

The KwaZulu-Natal High Court in Madadeni has sentenced a serial rapist to 10 life terms in jail for an eight-year reign of terror in Vryheid, KwaZulu-Natal that started in 2010.

The court imposed an additional 59 years for robbery with the intent to rape, burglary and theft.

According to police, 33-year-old Ntokozo Calvin Thabethe’s victims included women who left for work in the early hours of the morning, women who were walking alone and elderly women.

“The accused would drag the victims to a secluded area where he would rape them repeatedly. In another case, on 26 April 2011, a 49-year-old woman who was a hawker in Vryheid went into nearby bushes to relieve herself. While she was busy, she saw an unknown man who demanded money and raped her. Another 33-year-old victim survived when she was on the way to work. She was dragged into the bushes, tied with [the use of] grass on the ground and raped by the accused on 18 May 2015,” police spokesperson Captain Nqobile Gwala said on Friday.

Thabethe was arrested in 2018 after a lengthy investigation.

He was linked to 10 cases.