The Provincial Commissioner of Police in Limpopo, Lieutenant General Thembi Hadebe, has welcomed the substantial prison sentence handed down to a 38-year-old serial rapist by the Limpopo Division of the High Court in Polokwane on Wednesday, 22 October 2025.
The accused, who cannot be named to protect the identity of one of his victims, was convicted on multiple counts of rape, attempted rape, and robbery. The court handed down a cumulative sentence of 151 years imprisonment for a reign of terror that lasted from 2015 until 2024, targeting vulnerable women in the Nebo, Hlogotlou, and Rakgoadi policing areas under the Sekhukhune District.
The court heard that the man targeted victims aged between 9 and 24 years old. His method involved lying in wait and ambushing the women while they were walking alone on the road. In most instances, he would choke his victims, drag them into nearby bushes, and rape them.
His luck ran out in June 2024, when he attacked a learner who was walking to school with her classmates. While the other learners escaped and ran to inform a teacher, the accused ambushed the victim. The teacher responded swiftly to the scene, and with the assistance of the learners, managed to apprehend the suspect as he tried to evade arrest.
He was handed over to the SAPS at Hlogotlou, where a case of attempted rape was registered. The investigation was transferred to the Provincial Family Violence, Child Protection and Sexual Offenses (FCS) Unit. Through the diligent and tireless work of Sergeant Mokgaetsi Sema of the Serial and Electronic Crime Investigation (SECI), the accused was positively linked to multiple undetected rape cases in and around the Hlogotlou area.
The court sentenced the accused as follows:
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Count 1: Rape – 25 years imprisonment
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Count 2: Rape – 25 years imprisonment
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Count 3: Attempted Rape – 25 years imprisonment
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Count 4: Rape – 10 years imprisonment
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Count 5: Attempted Rape – 10 years imprisonment
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Count 6: Robbery – 3 years imprisonment
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Count 7: Housebreaking with intent to rape – 10 years imprisonment
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Count 8: Rape – 10 years imprisonment
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Count 9: Rape – 10 years imprisonment
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Count 10: Rape – 10 years imprisonment
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Count 11: Attempted Rape – 10 years imprisonment
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Count 12: Robbery – 3 years imprisonment
The court ordered that the sentences for counts 2 through 12 run concurrently with the 25-year sentence for count 1. Therefore, the accused will serve an effective sentence of 25 years imprisonment.
Furthermore, the court declared him unfit to possess a firearm in terms of Section 103(1)(g) of the Firearms Control Act (60 of 2000).
