By Agreement Mabunda
POLOKWANE: Polokwane Division of High Court convicted and sentenced a serial rapist on Monday, October 30.
The 28-year-old accused Evans Killer Ramahlo was sentenced to 102 years imprisonment for rape and robbery with firearms.
The court heard that during January 2021 and November 2021, in Motupa village Bolobedu South, Tzaneen policing area, communities were terrorized by two armed males accused of targeting couples who could be found strolling around the village at night, robbing them of their belongings such as cellphones, and raped the female victims in front of their partners.
He was again targeting couples driving motor vehicles; he would rob them of their valuables and compel male victims to have sex with female victims after raping them.
The police opened cases of robbery with aggravating circumstances and rape.
The case was transferred to the Tzaneen Family Violence, Children Protection, and Sexual Offenses Unit, and Sergeant Glenda Mathebula was assigned to investigate the case with the assistance of the Tzaneen tracing team and managed to gather information about the possible accused.
One of the victim’s cellphones was recovered, and later the accused was traced and arrested on Monday 14 February 2022.
The investigating officer opposed bail; until the accused was convicted and subsequently sentenced.
The DNA linked the accused to the other three cases from the same area.
The accused was convicted and sentenced on the following charges:
Four counts of robberies with aggravating circumstances: 13 years imprisonment each.
Two counts of rape: 25 years imprisonment each, of which 5 years are wholly suspended from a period of 5 years on condition that the accused is not convicted of an offence of rape during the period of suspension.
The sentences for robberies with aggravating circumstances and counts of rape shall run concurrently.
The accused is declared unfit to possess a firearm in terms of Section 103(1) of Act 60 of 2000 (the Firearms Control Act).
