Serial rapist sentenced to life plus 110 years

A serial rapist who terrorised people in Piet Retief in 2008, but only got arrested in 2020 after being linked to crimes through DNA, will spend the rest of his life in prison.

36-year-old Nkosikhona Ntshalintshali was sentenced to life and 110 years by the Breyten High Court in Mpumalanga on Thursday.

Ntshalintshali pleaded guilty to the crimes and was convicted on four counts of rape, four counts of robbery with aggravating circumstances, two counts of kidnapping, and two counts of housebreaking with intent to commit a crime.

Piet Retief residents terrorised from 2008

National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) regional spokesperson Monica Nyuswa said Ntshalintshali terrorised residents in Mafred Homes, Phola Park, and Kempville Magadeni. Between November 2008 and June 2009, he would break into homes, threaten victims with a knife, and rob them.

Ntshalintshali would also assault victims. Some were accosted while walking in the street before being dragged into secluded areas.

In one incident on 11 November 2008, a woman was walking in the vicinity of Mafred Homes when she came across Ntshalintshali, who demanded a cellphone before he dragged her to a railway line and raped her.

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The victim did not know him, but she reported the incident to the police.

In another incident on 5 June 2009, Ntshalintshali and two unknown accomplices confronted a man and woman who were walking on the street in the Kempville Magadeni Section.

“The accused and his co-perpetrator demanded the victims’ cellular phones and assaulted the man with a knobkierie, injuring his leg and taking his shoes. Furthermore, the accused threatened the woman with a knife, and all three of them took turns to rape her and thereafter fled the scene with her clothes,” Nyuswa said.

DNA evidence used to nab Ntshalintshali

A police investigation eventually led to Ntshalintshali’s arrest through DNA evidence linked to his crimes.

“The amount of violence used to commit these offences was so severe that it cannot be brushed aside and go unpunished. The accused had no choice but to plead guilty because the evidence against him was overwhelming,” Nyuswa said.

He was sentenced to life and 110 years of imprisonment.

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“This sentence is testimony of our commitment in the fight against the scourge of gender-based violence in our communities, and it brings closure to the victims and their families,” said Acting Director of Public Prosecutions Sonja Ntuli.