Convicted serial rapist, Lincho Believe Makhubela is due to be sentenced on Monday 24 February 2020, at the circuit of the Mpumalanga High Court sitting in Graskop after being found guilty on 17 January 2020, for rape, kidnapping and culpable homicide.
Makhubela’s conviction came as a result of sterling work done by a team of police detectives who were eager to solve a case involving a 7-year-old girl from Masoyi who was reported missing on 10 June 2018, by her family.
The court heard that as soon as the girl was reported missing at Mosoyi police station, police did not waste time but immediately begun with a search especially for the fact that a vulnerable little girl was a victim. The public was urged to assist with information regarding the girl’s whereabouts whilst astute members of the detectives worked hard in their investigation. Sadly, two days later on 12 June 2018, grazers made a gruesome discovery of the girl’s lifeless body in the nearby bushes. Police then changed the scope of focus in their investigation and registered a case of murder, rape as well as kidnapping following the discovery of the body.
During that period, news about the girl’s horrific death reached the ears of the community who became enraged by the gruesome act. Subsequently, police were notified about two houses that were torched by an angry mob who believed that the inhabitants thereof were involved in the girl’s death.
The police Commissioner in Mpumalanga, Lieutenant General Mondli Zuma, had since condemned the senseless killing of the innocent girl and promised the community that the suspect will be found and justice will definitely prevail. He also denounced the burning of houses alluding that the act generally has much possibilities of destroying crucial evidence necessary for the police to strengthen their cases against suspects in courts as well as diminish chances of harsher sentences. Reports also revealed that the owner of the two houses was threatened to be killed and that is when she and her family were forced to flee the area.
Thorough police investigation revealed that the suspect was Makhubela who was also wanted for other rapes and detectives were convinced that they were dealing with a serial rapist. As the investigation went on, police realised that Makhubela was also a wanted suspect for a Hazyview case of kidnapping, rape and attempted murder which took place in March 2018, where he kidnapped, raped and attempted to kill a 9-year-old girl from Nyongane Trust.
Further investigation of the two cases led police to discover more skeletons of this man who fed his evil lusts by praying on young defenceless girls and it was discovered that the same man, was behind other two rape cases at Sabie in which the suspect was not arrested.
Within two weeks of investigations by the astute team, Makhubela was traced and arrested on 08 July 2018, at Sabie where reports suggested that he was planning to go into hiding. He had his first court appearance at Masoyi Magistrates’ Court on 10 July 2018 and his case was transferred to the High Court where he was convicted on 17 January 2020, hence his sentencing tomorrow.
Makhubela was found guilty and convicted on two counts of rape, two counts of kidnapping and one of culpable homicide.
General Zuma has welcomed the conviction of Makhubela. “We would like to applaud the work done by the Investigation team, the Prosecution as well as the Judiciary. This has proven that our call for various role players to decisively deal with Gender-Based-Violence has not fallen on deaf ears. This is a step in the right direction and we believe that the man will get a harsher sentence. We again urge the community to desist from taking the law into their own hands where at times, members of the community burn houses thinking that they are punishing the perpetrators but instead they are erasing crucial evidence that we need to secure maximum sentences for perpetrators. I hope the community can learn and assist us in this regard,” said General Zuma.
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