Violent home invader and rapist gets 22 life sentences

South African Police Service

Violent home invader and rapist gets 22 life sentences
Violent home invader and rapist gets 22 life sentences

On 9 April 2018, 30 year old Nthai Steve Radebe who was facing 22 counts of rape, four counts of contravention of the Firearm Control Act (60 of 2000) and four counts of robbery with aggravated circumstances was sentenced to more than 22 life sentences by the Circuit of the Pretoria High Court, sitting at Delmas for the charges mentioned above.

The court heard how the accused had reigned terror within the KwaMhlanga, Siyabuswa and surrounding areas from 2012 up until when he was arrested in 2015. The cases he is accused of, inter-alia include an attack on a young girl while she was on her way home with her male friend. Radebe threatened the duo with a firearm, forcefully took them to a nearby bush and raped the girl repeatedly before robbing them of their belongings.

The accused also attacked an old woman who was sleeping with her grandchildren. When he gained entry into their house, he lit the sleeping children’s faces with a cellphone torch, picked a 19 year old girl from her siblings and threatened the others with a firearm. He then dragged the girl to a nearby bush, raped her repeatedly and left her there.

In another incident, a mother and her two young boys were asleep in their bedroom when Radebe forced the door open, gained entry into the house and raped the mother at gunpoint before robbing the family of home appliances, cosmetics and clothing.

In 2015, his reign of terror was cut short after he was arrested by the police shortly after having accosted a young woman at knife point and raped her repeatedly before robbing her of her cellphone. During the investigation he was further linked to other cases through DNA.

Radebe was sentenced to a life sentence for each rape, totalling 22 life sentences, 20 years for pointing of a firearm and 60 years for robbery with aggravated circumstances.

The Provincial Commissioner of the SAPS in Mpumalanga, Lieutenant General Mondli Zuma hailed the members of the dignified blue for their sterling work in ensuring that justice is done. “These stiff sentences will without doubt serve as a deterrent to other would-be offenders,” said the Provincial Commissioner.

South Africa Today – South Africa News

SOURCESouth African Police Service