RAPIST SENTENCED TO TWENTY YEARS DIRECT IMPRISONMENT
The Plettenberg Bay Regional Court has sentenced rapist, Luthando Madoda, to an effective 20 years direct imprisonment.
The court heard that he met a woman on the street at night, dragged her to a field and raped her twice in kwaNokuthula, Plettenberg Bay. He was convicted on two counts of rape and sentenced to 20 years imprisonment for each count of rape, but the court ordered the sentences to run concurrently.
Madoda pleaded not guilty to both counts and testified in his defence that he met the woman in the evening of 26 August 2017. She greeted him and said she wanted to enjoy herself in a flirting manner. He told her he had a place close by, and they both went willingly but he could not get into his room as he did not have his key. He then asked his younger brother to use his room. They both had consensual sex and he accompanied her the next morning.
The prosecutor, Johan Erasmus proved to the court that Madoda’s version was a lie as he led the victim in her testimony. She told the court that she was at a local tavern on 26 August 2017 and left the establishment at 11pm. She was slightly intoxicated.
She met the accused along the road, and attempted to avoid him by walking slower, stopping, and pretending to call her friends. He started a conversation, took out a knife, and threatened to stab her if she screamed. She feared for her safety and complied. He raped her and she did not resist as she feared for her life. After raping her for the first time, he took her to another area and raped her again. She collected her courage, got dressed and went to her friend’s place where she relayed what had happened to her. She had her tights in her hand and was crying when she reached her friend’s place. They reported the rape to the local police although she didn’t know her attacker.
Three days after her ordeal, she saw the accused walking on the street in front of her. She enquired from the children who were playing nearby who the person was, and they identified him as Luthando. She went to the police station to fetch the police and they all went to a house the children pointed out earlier. He was arrested after she positively identified him as the man who raped her.
Erasmus argued during the trial: “The accused alleges that he met the complainant in the street, and it was her idea to accompany him home, have intercourse with him, and she left him happy and satisfied. This version does not explain why the complainant arrived at the home of the first report with her tights in her hand crying. It also does not explain why the complainant could not find the house to point it out to the police.
“In my submission, the version of the accused cannot reasonably possibly be true, considering the undisputed evidence that the complainant was in a long term committed relationship. The complainant must have known at the time of reporting the rape that she would be subjected to questioning by her friend, her life partner, and the police on the incident. She knew she would be subjected to an invasive medical examination, the kind no woman would voluntarily like to be subjected to.”
“Having made the report, and made the complaint with the police, nothing could be gained by the complainant from identifying the accused three days later. Had his identity remained a mystery, she would not have had to testify or come to court. This behaviour is consistent with someone who was raped, and wishes to get justice, not someone who had consensual sex,” he argued.
The court agreed with the state’s argument and sentenced the accused on the two counts of rape and declared him unfit to possess a firearm.
The Director of Public Prosecutions in the Western Cape, Adv Nicolette Bell welcomed the sentence and applauded Erasmus’ efforts to ensure that the accused was charged, convicted and sentenced on two counts of rape.
