30-year-old to be sentenced for rape of two women in eMbalenhle

SECUNDA – Detectives from the Family Violence, Child Protection and Sexual Offenses (FCS) unit secured a conviction of a repeat offender on 20 August.
Mr Graham Cupido, Secunda Regional Court magistrate, found Surprise Masilela (30) from eMbalenhle guilty on seven charges related to two rape cases that happened in 2016.
According to the leading investigator, Sgt Hezekiel Malapela, Masilela’s modus operandi was to first scout out his victim before he struck. He would look for young women who slept alone in a room.
The first case against Masilela was opened in October 2016 when a young woman was attacked in her bed during the night.
Masilela broke open the door of her house and then entered her room.
The victim testified that she was woken up by hands on her body.
He strangled her while he was raping her. He stole her cell phone before he left.
It was very dark and although the victim could not see her attacker, she did recognise his voice.
She reported Masilela to the police. He was arrested, granted bail and released.
Masilela attacked a second woman in December 2016 while she was sleeping.
He broke open the door of the house and went straight to the victim’s room. She put up a fight and when her two younger siblings heard the commotion, they rushed to her room.
Masilela fought them off, overpowered and then assaulted them, before he turned back to raping the victim.
One of the siblings managed to escape and ran to seek help from their neighbour.
The neighbour found Masilela on top of the victim.
Only then did Masilela let his victim go and he fled the scene. Soon after this attack, Masilela fled to Devon where he also tried to attack a woman. He broke into her home, but was apprehended before he could do anything to her.
The FCS team tracked Masilela down in the jail at Devon.
The two eMbalenhle cases were joined for the trial. He was found guilty on two counts of rape, two counts of housebreaking, two counts of assault and a count of robbery.
He will again appear in court on 7 September for sentencing.