Pretoria - The High Court in Mpumalanga has convicted and sentenced 35-year-old Philani Justice Nkosi of Bhuga Trust to four life terms and 15 years imprisonment, for three counts of rape, one count of murder and one count of robbery with aggravating circumstances.
National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) Mpumalanga spokesperson, Monica Nyuswa said Nkosi committed the heinous offences from 2014 to 2018, in areas of Bhuga Trust and Halfway Trust, in KaBokweni.
“In one incident which stands out, the accused attacked a minor victim while she was on the way to the local shop. He dragged her to the nearby bush, raped and strangled her to death,” Nyuswa said.
“Again, on 19 March 2016, (another) victim was on her way home when she was attacked by the accused. He robbed the victim of her money, in the amount of R400, and groceries. He dragged her to the bushes, stabbed her and raped her.”
The victim was only aged 12.
Nkosi continued with his crime spree, and it December 2018, he raped a woman who was on her way home from work.
“The matter was reported to the police, and the accused was subsequently arrested and linked to other crimes through DNA,” said Nyuswa.
In court, Nkosi pleaded not guilty.
“He alleged that the victims were prostitutes and that the deceased victim was his girlfriend. State Advocate Zwelethu Mata led testimonies of the surviving victims and the deceased’s mother,” said Nyuswa.
“They indicated extensively the impact of the ordeal, which the accused had caused in their lives. The State also led the evidence of the investigating officer, who gave testimony as to how the accused was arrested.”
The investigating officer told the court that since 2014, the incidents remained cold cases, because the victims did not know their assailant until 2021.
Advocate Mata handed in positive DNA test results to the court, as well as a post-mortem report which confirmed that the deceased 12-year-old girl’s cause of death, was “blunt force trauma to the head and pressure to the neck”.
Judge Greyling Coetzee found the accused guilty on five counts and was sentenced to life imprisonment on each count of rape, life imprisonment for murder and 15 years imprisonment for robbery with aggravating circumstances.
“The Director of Public Prosecutions (in Mpumalanga) Advocate Nkebe Kanyane attributes this sentence to the collaborated efforts of the justice cluster in maintaining law and order in ensuring that justice prevails for the victims of gender-based violence,” Nyuswa concluded.
IOL