SECUNDA – Surprise Masilela (30) a convicted rapist from eMbalenhle, will effectively spend 24 years in prison for the rape and robbery of two women in 2016.
Mr Graham Cupido, Secunda Regional Court magistrate meted out prison sentence on 7 September.
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.
He strangled her while he was raping her. He stole her cell phone before he left.
His victim identified him through his voice.
He was arrested, but was granted bail.
Masilela attacked a second woman in December 2016 while she was sleeping.
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.
Detectives from the Family Violence, Child Protection and Sexual Offenses (FCS) unit tracked Masilela down in the jail at Devon. The two eMbalenhle cases were joined for the trial.
Masilela found guilty on 20 August on two counts of rape, two counts of housebreaking, two counts of assault and a count of robbery.
