- A serial rapist was found guilty of 28 charges by the Gauteng High Court in Pretoria on Thursday.
- The accused, Amos Ngubeni was found guilty of 13 counts of rape, some of which date back to 2011.
- Most of the victims were raped during hijackings and house robberies.
A serial rapist was found guilty by the Gauteng High Court in Pretoria on Thursday for committing a string of rapes, some of which date as far back as 2011.
In a statement, police said Amos Ngubeni was found guilty on 28 charges, which included 13 counts of rape, kidnapping, robbery with aggravating circumstances, assault to cause grievous bodily harm and theft.
“A series of rape cases had been reported in Duduza and Tsakane, with some dating back to 2011, where most victims had been raped during a hijacking or a house robbery,” police spokesperson Brigadier Mathapelo Peters said.
“Taking on the investigation in 2017, Sergeant Johnson Motlalepula Nkoana’s immediate analysis of the modus operandi in these rape cases diverted his attention to hijacking cases and this ultimately led to the linking of two suspected hijackers, to a series of rape cases through applying forensic techniques and processes.”
Ngubeni and Anton Sithole were arrested in 2019 after being linked to rape cases reported in Balfour in Mpumalanga, Thabazimbi in Limpopo, and Umkomaas in KwaZulu-Natal.
READ | Alleged serial ‘Facebook rapist’ posing as pastor arrested
Sithole pleaded guilty to the charges and started serving his sentence in December 2019. He was ultimately sentenced to 14 terms of life imprisonment and an additional 354 years for multiple counts of rape and other serious and violent crimes, Peters said.
Ngubeni, who was found guilty on Thursday, was expected to return to court on 14 September for sentencing proceedings.
Gauteng police commissioner Lieutenant General Elias Mawela welcomed the guilty verdict and urged investigators to prioritise the investigation of crimes against women, children and vulnerable persons.
“The volume of work and the psychological demand that comes with such an investigation that even stretches across provinces, can take their toll on any investigator,” Mawela said.
“Therefore, on behalf of the management of the SAPS, I want to commend Sergeant Nkoana for seeing this complex investigation through. His innovativeness and multi-faceted approach to this particular investigation, is exactly what is meant by effectively mobilising maximum resources.”
