By Luvuyo Mjekula
A 31-year-old man appeared in the Makhanda High Court this week charged with raping 10 women and five girls in two Eastern Cape towns over a seven-year period.
The Lesotho national, who resided in Addo, allegedly committed the rapes between October 2015 and December 2022 in Addo and Joubertina in the Sarah Baartman district.
Of his 15 victims, five are girls aged between 13 and 17 years.
In total, the man faces a total of 24 charges – 15 counts of rape, eight of robbery with aggravating circumstances and one of robbery.
The state alleges that the man armed himself with a firearm or a knife and wore a balaclava when he committed his heinous crimes.
According to the indictment, the first rape took place on 25 October 2015 in an open area adjacent to the R62 national road in Joubertina.
During the early hours of the morning, a pregnant 27-year-old woman went out of her home to relieve herself.
She noticed an unknown man walking past.
A short while later, she noticed the accused approaching her from the front. He was wearing a balaclava and armed with a bush knife.
The accused allegedly first walked past her, but turned and ran after her after she tried to run to her home.
“He caught up with her, and, wielding a knife, demanded money. He took her cellphone and hit her with a clenched fist in the face.”
He then pulled her to an open area across the R62 where she noticed the unknown man who had first walked past her. Both men took turns raping her before she reported the incident to her husband. The police were notified and a rape case was opened for investigation.
More than a year later, on 31 December 2016, the accused allegedly attacked a 30-year-old woman who was walking with her boyfriend through the orchards, also in Joubertina.
Clad in a balaclava and armed with a knife, he allegedly ambushed the couple and chased away the woman’s boyfriend. He allegedly raped her multiple times before he fled.
In another attack, the accused allegedly robbed two young friends before raping one of them, while the other watched, on 1 November 2017.
The state further alleges, using similar modus operandi, the accused started targeting women and girls in Addo, about 200km away from Joubertina.
In July 2019, the accused allegedly raped two young girls aged 13 and 14. They had been walking home when he approached them from behind and forced them to accompany him into the orchard on the pretext that they must assist him to pick up wood.
He then raped both of them and robbed one of them of a cellphone and other belongings.
According to the state, the accused went on to rape nine other women in the Addo area, using similar modus operandi whereby he ambushed the women, accosted and raped them. In some instances, he was accompanied by an unknown accomplice.
In one attack, he threatened to kill the victim and her brother if they did not obey his instructions.
The accused was arrested after one of the girls spotted him walking down the street and notified her sister who called the police.
In court this week, Warrant Officer Clarissa Simone Muthukarapan from the Saps forensic science laboratory in Cape Town, testified on DNA evidence collected from the various victims as well as the accused.
The court was also due to hear testimony from Dr James Adebutu from Andries Vosloo Hospital in Somerset East, on his examination of one of the victims.
The trial continues.
