The Provincial Commissioner of the police in Mpumalanga, Lieutenant General Mondli Zuma, is elated on recent sentences handed over to rapists in three separate incidents in the province.
On Monday, 11 December 2017, the Mdutjana Regional Court at Siyabuswa sentenced Phillip Nkosinathi Khanyile to an effective 30 year prison term for eight counts of rape which occurred between July and November 2012.
The court heard how the accused misled and raped three women found walking on the street in Siyabuswa. He introduced himself as a police officer and told them that he had left his car at his house and invited them to accompany him where he would take his car to drop them off at their homes.
He then locked the victims in his bedroom, threatened them with a sword and raped them. One of the victims managed to escape afterwards and Khanyile released the remaining two as well.
In another incident which also took place in Siyabuswa on 24 November 2012, at about 19:30, two young women were standing next to the road when a man in a car asked them to accompany him to the filling station. On the way they picked up Khanyile, drove to the filling station and then proceeded to Khanyile’s house where he pulled one of the women out of the car and forced her to his bedroom where he repeatedly raped her.
Khanyile was arrested on 3 December 2012 and appeared before the Mdutjana Magistrates’ Court the following day where he was charged with nine counts of rape.
The case was subsequently transferred to the local Regional Court where it was heard until passing of sentence.
Essentially Khanyile was found guilty on eight counts of rape and was sentenced to 10 years imprisonment for each in the following manner: count 2 will run concurrently with count 3, count 4 with count 5 and 6, count 7 will run concurrently with count 8 and 9, totaling 30 years that Khanyile will effectively serve.
The Provincial Commissioner of the police in Mpumalanga, Lieutenant General Mondli Zuma welcomed the sentences and stated that they will serve as a deterrent to other would be rapists and criminals. “The fact that the sentences are passed just after launching Operation Safer Festive Season and around the currency of the 16 Days on no violence against women and children campaign, are very significant in sending a strong message that the law enforcement agencies and justice fraternity (JCPS Cluster) mean business, especially to crimes against vulnerable people”, said the General.
South Africa Today – South Africa News
