The KwaZulu-Natal Family Violence, Child Protection and Sexual Offences Unit has secured a total of 10 life imprisonment sentences for rape, murder, abduction and assault in a few weeks. Picture: Bheki Radebe/Independent Newspapers
Durban — The KwaZulu-Natal Family Violence, Child Protection and Sexual Offences Unit (FCS Unit) have secured another five life imprisonment sentences for five convicted rapists.
Last month, the KZN FCS Unit started the 16 Days of Activism for No Violence against Women and Children on a positive note when detectives secured five life imprisonment terms for rape, murder, abduction and assault between November 16 and 27.
KZN police spokesperson Colonel Robert Netshiunda said the KZN FCS Unit detectives secured a life term for each of the five men convicted of cases of rape by various courts across the province between December 10 and 13.
Netshiunda said that in the early hours of January 15, 2023, Smiso Mtheshane, gained entry into the victim’s house through the window and forced himself on the woman who was sleeping.
Investigations proved beyond reasonable doubt that he was the perpetrator and on December 12, 2023, the judgment ensured that he was removed from society for good.
“Smiso Mtheshane, 26, was sent to prison for a lifetime after the Scottburgh Regional Court found him guilty of raping a 66-year-old woman at her home in Nsepheni location. He was also sentenced to a further seven years in prison on a charge of housebreaking,” Netshiunda said.
Netshiunda said that in another case, on June 8, 2023, in the afternoon, an 11-year-old girl told her aunt that she was raped. With the medical examination confirming the rape, the suspect was arrested. After several court appearances, the court handed down the ultimate sentence befitting his horrific crime of violating a child.
“On Wednesday, December 13, 2023, the Madadeni Regional Court condemned a 44-year-old man to spend the rest of his life in jail for raping his girlfriend’s granddaughter,” Netshiunda said.
In the third incident, a woman was waiting for a taxi when two men approached her and demanded money. When she told them that she did not have any money, they grabbed and raped her.
“On December 13, 2023, the Madadeni Regional Court also handed a term of life imprisonment sentence each to Thamsanqa Welcome Mkhabela, 29, and Mxolisi David Silepe, 27, for gang-raping a 42-year-old woman along the public road in Osizweni on the morning of June 1, 2016,” Netshiunda said.
“Mkhabela was also sentenced to a further six-year jail time for robbery.”
In the last case, Netshiunda said that on December 10, 2023, the Pietermaritzburg Magistrate’s Court sentenced a 35-year-old man to life imprisonment for raping his 11-year-old stepdaughter at a house in the Haniville area of Copesville.
According to the victim, she was raped several times between March and August 2021, he said. The rape ordeal was eventually reported to police and the suspect was arrested. His name will also be added to the National Register for Sex Offenders and he was also declared unfit to possess a firearm.
Meanwhile, between November 16 and 27, the KZN FCS Unit secured five life imprisonment terms for rape, murder, abduction and assault.
Netshiunda said the Pietermaritzburg High Court delivered justice to the family of a 4-year-old girl who was raped and murdered by 22-year-old Songezo Mpulampula on September 8, 2023.
“The convicted rapist and murderer, who raped the little girl, and killed and burnt her tiny body, was condemned to serve double terms of life imprisonment for the heinous crime,” Netshiunda said.
He said that in Ulundi, FCS unit detectives worked tirelessly in ensuring that a 52-year-old grandfather from Ulundi was sentenced to serve life imprisonment by the Mahlabathini Magistrate’s Court for raping his 9-year-old granddaughter. The child confided in her mother and, with the involvement of social workers, the matter was reported topolice which led to the arrest of her grandfather.
Netshiunda said a 15-year-old girl who was reported missing in Nkandla was spotted by neighbours at a homestead in the Vumanhlamvu area. Police were alerted and, on arrival, she informed them that she had been violated by a 33-year-old man who had abducted and raped her between July 7 and 16, 2022. The man was traced and arrested.
“The Nkandla Magistrate’s Court handed down the ultimate sentence and sent the sex pest to spend the rest of his life facing prison walls and an additional five years for kidnapping,” Netshiunda said.
Lastly, Netshiunda said, a Nsuze rapist was also sentenced to a life imprisonment sentence by the Maphumulo Regional Court after a guilty verdict was delivered against him for raping his elderly grandmother at Bhamshela on Christmas Day in 2021. The rapist was arrested two months after the incident and was kept in custody until the day of his sentencing.
WhatsApp your views on this story to 071 485 7995.
Daily News