At the age of 30, a Mpumalanga man has been sentenced to four life terms and an additional 78 years.
Respect Mandla Siwela was sentenced by Graskop High Court for crimes dating back to the period between November 2013 and December 2017.
The crimes were committed in Violetbank, Bushbuckridge and one in Clau Clau in the district of Nsikazi.
Respect and his unknown accomplice would threaten the victims with a hammer rape them and rob them of their valuables like cellphones and clothing items.
One of the victims is a pensioner (72), and the other victim was gang raped.
In one incident, which happened on 3 November 2013 near Violetbank, Respect and his unknown accomplice came across a minor victim (13) walking on the street. They grabbed her and raped her taking turns.
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Again, on the evening of 12 August 2015, Respect broke into the house of Lina Ngwenyama (72), in Violetbank Trust.
“He raped and assaulted her in the head. The victim was taken to the hospital and later succumbed to the injuries. Respect continued with his crime spree until 10 December 2017, when he armed himself with a hammer, broke into a house in Clau Clau and found two victims sleeping. He raped one victim and attempted to rape the other one. He then fled the scene with their cellphones,” the court heard.
He was linked to the crimes through DNA.
In court, Respect denied raping the victims and claimed consent.
Advocate Antionette Nkosi, led testimonies of the complainants, first reports and medical reports. The deceased's grandson who was in the house when the incident happened also testified that he woke up and saw his grandmother bleeding profusely.
Advocate Nkosi handed in positive DNA results linking the accused to the offence including a postmortem report confirming that the deceased's cause of death was head injury and bleeding. The court found Respect guilty as charged.
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In aggravation of sentence, advocate Nkosi told the court Respect did not show remorse for his actions throughout the trial. He had no respect for anyone and that the victims were disturbed by the accused's actions. Victim impact statements facilitated by Court Preparation Officer Nomfundo Mokoena, were handed in. One victim stated that she misses her grandmother, especially the love she gave them as a family.
Another victim detailed that after the ordeal she started to be rebellious and is not coping. Respect’s circumstances did not warrant the court to deviate from the mandatory minimum sentence. The court sentenced the accused accordingly.
Respect was then convicted to four counts of rape, one count of attempted rape, one count of murder, two counts of robbery with aggravating circumstances and three counts of housebreaking.
