Robber, rapist gets life plus 50 years
An Umlazi serial rapist has been sentenced to life in prison plus 50 years for his attacks on and robberies of three women.
|||Umlazi - An Umlazi serial rapist, described by a judge as an unscrupulous deviant with no possibility of rehabilitation, has been sentenced to life in prison plus 50 years for his attacks on and robberies of three women.
Xolani Richard Mfeka, 32, who forced his victims to shower after violating them, was found guilty of five counts of rape and five counts of robbery with aggravating circumstances by Pietermaritzburg High Court Acting Judge Parmasar Singh.
Mfeka denied his involvement in the crimes, claiming he had no idea how his DNA came to be found on three of his victims, two of whom were over six months pregnant at the time of the rapes.
The third victim had been celibate for 10 years after her husband died when she was raped by Mfeka, and had to be put on ARV treatment.
She was also hospitalised after becoming suicidal as a result of the rape.
All three women relocated for fear that Mfeka would come after them again, and all sought counselling.
Sentencing Mfeka, Judge Singh said Mfeka had contributed to South Africa being labelled the rape capital of the world.
“Rape is a humiliating, degrading violation of a woman’s dignity and privacy. Women have a right to enjoy the peace, safety and tranquillity of their homes. Instead, your victims lives have been forever altered because of your savage actions,” the judge said.
Judge Singh said it was also aggravating that Mfeka had shown no remorse for his actions, in the face of overwhelming evidence against him.
“It is clear you are not capable of taking responsibility for what you have done, which implies that the possibility of your rehabilitation is remote,” he said.
“You are a danger to society, particularly to women, and you need to be removed for a long time.”
Mfeka embarked on a “crime spree” between October 2012 and January 2013, terrorising women and their partners in Harding and KwaDukuza.
In the first incident, on October 24, 2012, Mfeka broke into a family’s home in Harding, and threatened them at gunpoint.
He demanded cash and cellphones, and ransacked the wardrobes in the house, where he found R110.
He then dragged the 45-year-old woman into the bathroom and raped her, before fleeing in her vehicle.
The second incident happened in KwaDukuza on January 17, 2013. He went to the room of the 34-year-old woman, and told her to open her door or he would shoot her.
When the woman opened the door, Mfeka marched her to a nearby sugar cane plantation, where he raped her twice at gunpoint.
Fourteen days later, Mfeka entered a homestead in the Zamani area in KwaDukuza, demanded money from a 28-year-old woman and her boyfriend, then tied the couple up and ransacked their home.
Mfeka then dragged the woman to the dining room, untied her and raped her twice.
Daily News