Eastern Cape serial rapist’s seven-year reign of terror ends with life imprisonment

A seven-year reign of terror by a serial rapist who would break into women’s houses and rape them has ended after he was sentenced to life imprisonment plus 23 years.

On Thursday, the Bhisho High Court in the Eastern Cape sentenced Sipho “Mahlathini” Mjuza, 49, to life for raping an elderly woman, 15 years for raping a middle-aged woman, and eight years for housebreaking.

National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) regional spokesperson Luxolo Tyali said unfortunately, Mjuza could not be convicted for raping another elderly victim, even though he was linked to the incident through DNA, because she couldn’t testify because she suffered from dementia.

The serial rapist’s reign of terror took place in different magisterial districts, under the jurisdictions of Bhisho, Makhanda, and Centane, which necessitated that his cases be centralised.

Serial rapist nabbed through his DNA in unrelated cases

Tyali said in all the incidents, the victims could not identify their attacker, and Mjuza was only arrested after he was convicted of housebreaking and attempted housebreaking in an unrelated case that occurred in December 2015 in East London.

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He was sentenced to 16 years, and as a result of his conviction, Mjuza’s DNA was placed in the database of the Forensic Science Laboratory.

On the evening of September 2008, the then-62-year-old victim had just taken a bath when she was attacked by someone who broke the light bulb and raped her in her home in Tamara village, near Qonce (formerly King Williams Town). 

The other elderly victim, an 81-year-old woman, was attacked and raped while she was sleeping in her home in Fort Murray Area, near the district of Zwelitsha.

Meanwhile, on 30 March 2015, another woman was sleeping in her home in Fingo Village in Makhanda when the door to her room was pushed open by the assailant, who raped her at knifepoint before fleeing the scene. 

Another woman was accosted while walking from a traditional ceremony at Nantsana village in Centane on 4 April 2015. She was sexually assaulted by a person she could not identify.

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Mjuza was only later positively linked to all these cases through DNA.

Mjuza claimed chronic forgetfulness when he was drunk

During his trial, Mjuza pleaded not guilty, claiming that he had chronic forgetfulness when he was drunk and could not remember committing the crimes. 

However, through the leadership of state advocate Nocwaka Tokota, using forensic and oral evidence, the state managed to convince the court that Mjuza was guilty as charged.

“All cases of sexual violence encroach on the rights to dignity and privacy of the victims as enshrined in our constitution; hence, the NPA aggressively prosecutes these cases,” Tyali said.