Bogus Facebook recruiter and serial rapist handed harsh sentence

A 28-year-old bogus Facebook recruiter and serial rapist who lured women on the pretence that they were going to get jobs was sentenced to 70 years in jail.

Mathatha Gift Phelane from Ga-Podile, Tubatse District, appeared in the Limpopo Polokwane High Court on Monday, where the sentence was handed down.

Phelane was sentenced to 70 years’ imprisonment for seven counts of rape, 30 years for six counts of robbery with aggravating circumstances and 15 years for three counts of kidnapping.

‘Terrorising women’

National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) spokesperson Mashudu Malabi-Dzhangi said Phelane pleaded not guilty.

“The state led evidence of the witnesses. During the trial, witnesses testified that between 2020 and 2021, the accused was terrorising young women from communities of: Ga Mphethi, Ga-Manyaka, Ga-Selala, Ga-Maroga and Mafolo Park.  Young women were lured under the pretence that they are going to get jobs.

“The accused would then threaten them with a knife or a gun demanding their cellphones and monies and subsequently raped them. After the ordeal, he would leave them destitute and confused in the bushes. The accused was identified through a picture that one of the victims took of him while he was luring her into the bushes, and that led to his arrest,” Malabi-Dzhangi said.

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Malabi-Dzhangi said further investigations revealed Phelane’s DNA was linked to various other rape offence within the area.

No remorse

In aggravating the sentence, the state Advocate Muneiwa Ratshibvumo informed the court that Phelane showed no remorse for his actions and continuously misled the court by stating that all the victims were his girlfriends.

Ratshibvumo argued Phelane’s actions ruined the lives of the victims.

“Some are even suffering from suicidal thoughts and severe depression, the accused  preyed on the vulnerability and desperation of these young women.”

Acting Judge Ephraim Makgoba said Phelane was a “calculative conman” who violated the dignity and bodily integrity of those women, adding that the sentence imposed will ensure safety of women in the community.

Director of Public Prosecutions, Advocate Ivy Thenga said she was pleased that the victims of Gender-Based-Violence (GBV) received justice.

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