LIMPOPO – The Director of Public Prosecutions, Advocate Ivy Thenga has welcomed the sentenced handed down by the Sibasa Regional Court to Mbangiseni Emmanuel Matoro (28).
Matoro appeared in the court in Thohoyandou on Thursday, 19 November, for crimes he committed in 2014 and 2015.
The Director of Public Prosecutions Regional Spokesperson, Mashudu Malabi-Dzhangi, said Matoro was sentenced to two life imprisonment sentences for two counts of rape, as well as five years for kidnapping and 15 years for robbery with aggravating circumstances.
“Matoro was linked to the incidents by DNA. His sentence in respect of robbery and kidnapping will run concurrently with the sentenced imposed in respect of the counts of rape,” she explained.
Malabi-Dzhangi said in the first incident in 2014, Matoro raped a 30-year-old woman. “The woman was at her home at Minini village when she responded to a call of nature. While she was relieving herself, Matore attacked her with a knife. She sustained several wound and was raped,” she explained.
In the second incident, in 2015, Matoro and his friend took turns to rape a 21-year-old woman.
“They took her to a house by force and raped her interchangeably for the whole night. They later stabbed her with a knife several times and when she screamed, the accused inserted his hand into the anus of the victim, with the intention of pulling out her intestines. The complainant passed out and later gained strength and disarmed the accused and stab him several times with the said knife,” she added.
She said the men were found by police at the scene and they recovered the woman’s cellphone.
Matoro pleaded not guilty and the case went to trial where he was found guilty after five witnesses testified.
“In mitigation, Matoro blamed his co-accused, who killed himself in jail, for raping the complainant in 2015. In aggravation of sentence, Advocate Maphile Molefe called both victims as witnesses and the state presented a victim impact assessment report. Both complainants still have nightmares and experience flashbacks because of the incident,” Malabi-Dzhangi said
The woman, who was 21 years old at the time of the rape in 2015, is unable to bear children as her womb was injured. “She is struggling when she wants to releive herself due to the injuries she suffered when the accused pulled her intestines. The court found that there are no substantial and compelling circumstances to deviate from the prescribed minimum sentence,” she concluded.
