Thohoyandou gang rapist handed life sentence plus 75 years

LIMPOPO – A 23-year-old man who pleaded guilty to several charges against him was handed a life imprisonment plus 75 years sentence in the Limpopo High Court: Thohoyandou Division.

Khumbelo Buku Tshisudzungwane of Ha-Magidi faced 31 counts ranging from gang rape, attempted rape, kidnapping, house robbery, housebreaking with intent to commit robbery, housebreaking with intent to steal, robbery with aggravating circumstances, malicious injury to property and theft out of the motor vehicle.

NPA Regional Spokesperson Mashudu Malabi-Dzhangi said between July 2015 and August 2016, Tshisudzungwane and his accomplice terrorised the Makwarela, Mbaleni, Ha Magidi, and Thohoyandou Block G location communities by entering the homesteads of the victims and threatening them with a craw bar and pangas.

“The duo would then rob them of their motor vehicles, bags, money, cellphones, and other valuable items,” she said.

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Malabi-Dzhangi said the court heard how one of the victims was raped several times and abandoned in the bushes and that Tshisudzungwane also attempted to rape other victims.

“They would put their victims in their cars and drive around at night. The state’s evidence was overwhelming, and the court found him guilty as charged,” she said.

During aggravating of the sentence state advocate Robert Nekhambele submitted that the accused acted in common purpose to terrorise his neighbouring locations.

“He is a cruel young man who targeted women who were staying with minor children,” he told the court.

Nekhambele pleaded for Tshisudzungwane to be permanently removed from society, adding that he is heartless and arrogant.

Judge Legodi Phatudi said that the complainants were indeed violated and the offence will never be erased.

Tshisudzungwane’s sentences were ordered to run concurrently.