A SERIAL RAPIST WAS SENTENCED TO 4 LIFE TERMS AND 15 YEARS IMPRISONMENT
The High Court of South Africa: The Mpumalanga High Court has today convicted and sentenced Philani Justice Nkosi (35), of Bhuga Trust to 4 life terms and 15 years imprisonment, for 3 counts of rape, one count of murder and one count of robbery with aggravating circumstances. Nkosi committed these offences from 2014 to 2018, in Bhuga Trust and Halfway Trust, KaBokweni. In one incident which stands out, the accused attacked a minor victim while she was on the way to the local shop. He dragged her to the nearby bush, raped and strangled her to death.
Again, on 19 March 2016, the victim was on her way home when she was attacked by the accused, he robbed the victim of her money in the amount of R400 and groceries and further dragged her to the bushes stabbed her and raped her. The accused continued with his crime spree until December 2018 when he raped an adult woman who was on her way home from work. The matter was reported to the police, and the accused was subsequently arrested and linked to other crimes through DNA.
In court he pleaded not guilty, he alleged that the victims were prostitutes and that the deceased victim was his girlfriend. State Advocate Zwelethu Mata led testimonies of the surviving victims and the deceased mother. They indicated extensively the impact of the ordeal the accused caused in their lives. The state also led the evidence of the investigating officer who gave testimony as to how the accused was arrested. He told the court that since 2014 these incidents remained cold cases because the victims did not know their assailant until 2021.
Advocate Mata handed in positive DNA to the court as well as a postmortem report which confirmed that the deceased cause of death was blunt force Trauma to the head and pressure to the neck.
Judge Greyling Coetzee found the accused guilty on five counts and was sentenced to life imprisonment on each count of rape, life imprisonment for murder and 15 years imprisonment for robbery with aggravating circumstances.
The Director of Public Prosecutions Adv. Nkebe Kanyane attributes this sentence to the collaborated efforts of the justice cluster in maintaining law and order in ensuring that justice prevails for the victims of gender-based violence.
