A South African court has sentenced a rapist, Joseph Tebogo Mhlanga, to three life terms, plus 31 years.
The 32-year-old was convicted by Soshanguve Magistrates Court for raping three women and committing a string of housebreaking and theft offences between 2011 and 2014.
The crimes were all committed in Soshanguve, about 30 km north of Pretoria.
Mhlanga was handed a life sentence for each of the three rapes, 15 years for robbery with aggravating circumstances and four years for each housebreaking and theft offence.
The convicted man and his accomplice, who is still on the run, took turns to rape two women in April 2011, before robbing them of their cellphones and money.
Then, in June 2011, he intercepted a teenager while on her way to school and raped her.
“The docket was assigned to Detective Sergeant Kgosana [and] he followed all leads until he eventually arrested Mhlanga on 23 August 2018 and charged him with three counts of rape and robbery aggravating,” said police spokesperson Captain Mavela Masondo.
“The investigating officer went the extra mile and checked if there were other cases [to which] Mhlanga could be linked. Via reports from SAPS forensic laboratories, Mhlanga was linked to four more cases of housebreaking and theft committed between July 2013 and June 2014.
“All the cases were presented at Soshanguve Magistrates Court with the necessary evidence and Mhlanga was convicted on all the charges.”