SERIAL RAPIST SENTENCED TO EFFECTIVE 20 YEARS IMPRISONMENT
The Limpopo Polokwane High Court has convicted and sentenced Lucky Kgahledi Raphela (44), from Malungane Village Namakgale to effective 20 years imprisonment for 4 counts of rape. The accused pleaded guilty to all counts, and in his plea agreement, he stated that between 16 January 2018 and 07 November 2021, in Phalaborwa, he offered different adult women (the victims) a lift on a public road as they were hitchhiking. He would then drive nearby the bushes and threatened them with a knife before raping them. The victims are not known to each other, and the accused was linked through the DNA in these offences.
In aggravation of the sentence, state Adv. Muneiwa Ratshibvumo submitted that the accused has previous conviction of escaping from lawful custody, and that shows how dangerous he is. She then further submitted that the victims are women, who need to be protected against the conduct of men who behave in a barbaric manner and threatened women like the accused. She concluded by saying that these offences are prevalent in this country and the victims suffered emotional and undue mental stress due to the accused’s conduct.
The court has sentenced the accused to 10 years for count 1 of rape, 10 years for count 2 of rape, 10 years for count 3 of rape, and 10 years to count 4 of rape, and further ordered that the sentence for count 2 to run concurrently with the sentence in count 1 and the sentence in count 4 to run concurrently with the sentence in count 3. The effective period of imprisonment that the accused should serve is, therefore, 20 years of direct imprisonment.
The NPA is pleased with the good work done by advocate Ratshibvumo and investigating officer Captain Masangu Mbedzi from Phalaborwa Family Violence and Child Protection Unit, we hope that perpetrators of such crimes will learn from the sentence.
