SERIAL RAPIST SENTENCED TO ELEVEN LIFE IMPRISONMENT PLUS 15 YEARS

The High court of South Africa, Limpopo Division sitting in Thohoyandou, has convicted and sentenced a 39- year- old man, Given Maceke, from Nyavani village, under Collins Chabane Municipality, to 11 life imprisonment for eleven counts of rape and eight counts of robbery with aggravating circumstances. The incidents occurred between 10 July 2013, and 25 June 2016. The accused and another male person were armed with knives threatening the complainants before raping them. The accused would terrorise complainants at Green farm, Nghezimani, Xigalo, Tshikonelo, Roodhuis and Nyavani villages. In some instances, the accused and another person would break in and enter the homestead of the victims, armed with dangerous objects, and attack the victims on their way to neighbouring villages. The victims could not identify their assailants. During the trial, the accused pleaded guilty to all 19 counts, because the evidence of the state was overwhelming. The accused was, however, linked to the crime scenes through DNA in all 10 case dockets. , During the sentencing stage, Adv. Nekhambele Nnyambeni Robert argued that the accused had a previous conviction of rape, victims were raped by more than one person, and some victims were under the age of 16 years, at the time of the commission of the offences. He further submitted that the accused was not remorseful and should be permanently removed from society. Deputy Judge President Masaro Semenya stated that the attack on victims was well-calculated and pre-planned. She further indicated that there were no substantial and compelling circumstances justifying the imposition of lesser sentences than the prescribed sentence. Consequently, the accused was sentenced to eleven life imprisonment terms and 15 years imprisonment on each of the eight counts of robbery with aggravating circumstances. Sentences were ordered to run concurrently. The NPA welcomes the sentence, the Director of Public Prosecutions, Adv. Ivy Thenga said that “the violence against women and children cannot be tolerated and perpetrators of these crimes should be removed from our society”, she concluded. Ends Enquiries: Mashudu Malabi-Dzhangi NPA Regional Spokesperson Limpopo Division mmalabi@npa.gov.za 074 823 3603/015 045 0286