A South African man, Sello Abram Mapunya, 33, has been sentenced to one thousand and eighty-eight (1088) years imprisonment for allegedly raping and robbing about fifty-six women in a community.
Mapunya, who was convicted on Wednesday, May 26 over alleged series of housebreaking and violation of women in the Pretoria suburbs in the last five years, was said to have been found guilty of repeated house robberies with the intent of sexually violating the female victims.
It was gathered that the culprit committed the crimes while he lived with his girlfriend, eight-year-old son and four-year-old daughter in Pretoria.
Mapunya was said to have assaulted many women in Tshwane’s suburbs of Nellmapius, Mamelodi, Silverton, Olievenhoutbosch and Atteridgeville.
Mapunya, whose youngest victim was 14 years of age, was attacked while walking home with a friend in Olievenhoutbosch, and his eldest victim was 55.
Mapunya who was initially charged with 101 different crimes, began his crime spree in 2014 and it ended in March 2019 after he was arrested by detectives from the serial electronic crimes investigation unit.
Judge Papi Mosopa, in his ruling, sentenced the convict to 1,088 years in prison after he was found guilty of 41 rapes, 40 counts of robbery with aggravating circumstances and 40 counts of housebreaking.
Mosopa who said none of the sentences would run concurrently, sentenced Mapunya to life imprisonment for raping his teenage victim and three other women who he raped multiple times.
Condemning “evil” to an eternity behind bars, Mosopa said Mapunya was “hell-bent” on infringing on society’s most vulnerable and their right to dignity and security.
“He failed to show any remorse,” Mosopa added.
Refilwe Selamolela, Mapunya’s youngest victim, who is now 19 and agreed to be identified, said she had spent years asking herself why men raped and hurt women.
In her words: “I want to ask men out there to stop hurting us and ask them to protect us, love us and provide for us and our children. For so many years I have suffered, crying every time I hear of another woman who has been raped.
“Today, I just thank God and the justice system for bringing this man down, for sending him away to jail for the rest of his life.”
Thuleleni Mtsweni, another rape victim of Mapunya who was beaten over the head with a hammer in her Nellmapius home, said some victims had almost lost their lives.
“It was the worst experience of my life, but that is now over. Today is a victory, not just for those of us who survived the terror this man unleashed, but for all women out there who are victims of similar crimes, she said.
“We, as survivors, fought for our voices to be heard. We fought for the voices of all women to be heard. We stood here in court and have now watched the man who tortured us go down. He went down because of our bravery to speak out, she added.”
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