The grave-yard rapist was sentenced to four life terms
By Jonk wa Mashamba
news@alexreporter.co.za
The High Court of South Africa, Gauteng Local Division, Johannesburg sentenced Thabang Victor Rampai (32), to four life terms and 15 years imprisonment.
This follows his conviction on six counts of rape, two counts of robbery with aggravating circumstances, a count of assault with intent to do grievous bodily harm and a count of attempted murder.
Rampai’s brutal acts started from May 2016 to March 2018, at the Roodepoort cemetery.
NPA spokesperson, Phindi Mjonondwane, said the infamous sex pest pounced on women who visited their relatives’ graves, grabbing their necks and forcing them to the ground.
Mjonondwane said he would then instruct them to undress and rape them.
“In one incident that happened on 10 March 2018, the victim was cleaning her late husband’s grave when he grabbed her from behind and stabbed her with a screwdriver, demanding her cellphone, raped her and fled the scene,” said Mjonondwane.
State Advocate, Makwena Mokwatedi argued that the accused pleaded guilty to all the charges because the evidence against him was overwhelming.
She added that the accused could not dispute the DNA evidence that linked him to all previously unsolved cases of women that were robbed and raped at the Roodepoort graveyard.
She further added that the court must never allow perpetrators such as the offender to create an environment of terror and insecurity in the minds of innocent citizens by removing them from society.
Judge Cassim Ismail Moosa ordered that the accused’s name be entered into the National Register for Sex Offenders and deemed him unfit to possess a firearm.