The Provincial Commissioner of North West, Lieutenant General Sello Kwena, welcomed the life sentence handed down to Lucky Mathabatha (45) by the High Court sitting in Palmridge on Wednesday, 2 March 2022.
Mathabatha was sentenced to life imprisonment after he was arrested on Sunday, 29 December 2019, at his home in Oukasie, close to Brits after initial investigations linked him to seven rapes, four robberies and five kidnappings that were reported between 2010 and 2015 in and around Brits.
According to information presented before the court, Mathabatha was targeting female hitchhikers.
He would wait for unsuspecting drivers of vehicles to stop in order to offer lifts to the females. He would further and soon after the drivers had stopped to offer lifts to females, run to the vehicles and rob them (drivers) of their valuable items before grabbing and kidnapping his female victims to nearby bushes where he would rape them.
Subsequent to investigations, Mathabatha was linked to the cases through DNA results, obtained through another rape case that he committed in Gauteng Province. He was denied bail by the court and remained in custody since his arrest in December 2019.
Mathabatha was sentenced as follows:
Four counts of robbery: 15 years each
Five counts of kidnapping: seven years each
Seven counts of rape: life sentence and an additional 10 years imprisonment.
Lieutenant General Sello Kwena praised the Brits Family Violence, Child Protection and Sexual Offences (FCS) Unit for spending sleepless nights, tracing the perpetrator, putting him behind bars and ensuring that he receives an appropriate jail sentence. He also thanked the prosecution for the role they played in the sentence which he said will send a stern warning to potential criminals that the police are serious about fighting crime in the province.
