By Jonk wa Mashamba
news@alexreporter.co.za
The Pretoria High Court has on Friday 21 January sentenced Takalani Mulaudzi (30), from Tshafhasi in Nzhelele to 7 life terms and 173 years imprisonment for rape, robbery with aggravating circumstances, kidnapping and grievous bodily harm.
This is after Mulaudzi was convicted of 15 counts of rape, 5 counts of robbery with aggravating circumstances, 3 counts of kidnapping and 1 count of grievous body harm.
Mulaudzi started committing these offences in 2015 in and around Pretoria West when he was 23 years old.
He targeted vulnerable women that were either walking alone or in pairs in the evenings.
He would threaten them with an object or a knife, then drag them to the closest veld, rape them, take their belongings such as cellphones, money, laptops and leave them.
According to Lumka Mahanjana
NPA regional Spokesperson, Mulaudzi would have conversations with the victims and asked them personal questions about their lives.
“One victim testified in court that Mulaudzi told her that he was studying law while he was raping her.
“Another victim also testified in court that while she was walking and crossing in Wespark at approximately 20:30, Mulaudzi pointed a knife at her and instructed her to go with him.
“When they reached the bushes, he instructed her to lie on the grass, tied her with a cable tie, covered her mouth with Sellotape and proceeded to rape her.
“After the incident, Mulaudzi directed her to go towards Magalies freeway where he professed his love and that he regretted his actions. He raped her again continuously the entire night until the following morning,” said Mahanjana.
Mulaudzi was later arrested on 10 July 2019 at his workplace in Johannesburg, after he was traced through one of the phones he stole and linked to the rapes through DNA.
While in custody, Mulaudzi continuously applied to be released on bail several times and the NPA successfully opposed all those applications.
During his plea explanation, Mulaudzi denied raping the women multiple times, but admitted to only raping them once at a time.
However, the court convicted him on all counts of rape. Prosecutor Advocate Cornelia Harmzen asked the court to impose the maximum prescribed sentence and argued that Mulaudzi had no remorse for his actions.
Presiding Judge Maumela was shocked by the devastating impact of the crimes on the victims and criticised people who disrespect women.
The NPA DPP Advocate Sibongile Mzinyathi welcomed the sentence and was thankful for the work and dedication by the investigation officer Sergeant Daniel Moshabelo, that lead to successful conviction and sentencing.
He also expressed his gratitude for the assistance of Amokelani Mashele, a court preparation officer who prepared all the witnesses for court.
