A serial rapist in Brits was handed four life sentences and an additional 80 years by the Brits Magistrate’s Court on Friday, for his raping spree over five years.
Jacobs Boase Kgatlane from Lethlabile was found guilty of 10 counts of rape and nine counts counts of robbery with aggravating circumstances.
The 41-year-old was also found unfit to possess a firearm and acquitted of one rape charge because a witness was not available to testify.
Raping spree
His reign of terror started in 2009 and came to an end in 2013, where he raped 14 girls under the age of 18.
National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) Gauteng spokesperson, Lumka Mahanjana, said his youngest victim was just 14 years old.
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Kgatlane would target women walking alone at night, accost them at knife point and make threats that he had a gun.
“He would then drag them to nearby bushes, stadium toilets and abandoned buildings, where he raped them,” said Mahanjana.
He was nabbed in 2013 in Mpumalanga after police received a tip off about his whereabouts.
The police also recovered a phone he stole from one of his victims. He has been in custody since.
“For mitigating factors, his legal representatives asked for a linear sentence since Kgatlane has been in custody since 2013. However the state prosecutor told the court that if pre-trial incarceration is taken as substantial and compelling circumstances then that would defeat the purpose of minimum sentence,” added Mahanjana.
The Director of Public Prosecutions, Advocate Sibongile Mzinyathi, said the sentence imposed on Kgatlane fitted his offences.
Mzinyathi also commended the investigator who was working on the case that led to the conviction of Kgatlane.
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