Serial rapist sentenced to three life terms
Serial rapist sentenced to three life terms
The High Court of South Africa, Gauteng Local Division, Johannesburg sentenced Richmond Maleka (35) to three life terms plus 119 years imprisonment on charges of rape, kidnapping and robbery with aggravating circumstances. During the period from March 2016 to November 2018, Maleka began his reign of terror in Gauteng. On 18 March 2016, at Tembisa, the accused together with his allies grabbed the first complainant at gunpoint and coerced her to the bushes where her hands were tied. The accused and his co-perpetrators violently robbed her of her handbag and proceeded to sexually assault her.
In April 2016, they pounced on the second complainant who was walking alone and came across the accused and his allies. She turned back, they pursued her grabbed her from behind and strangled her. The accused assaulted and raped her. They then fled the scene. He, together with his allies, continued with this reign of terror on four more complainants between September 2017 and October 2018, using the same modus operandi. Maleka was arrested for an unrelated robbery, then he was linked through DNA to the crimes he committed in Tembisa.
He made his preliminary appearances at Tembisa Magistrates’ Court until his matter was later transferred for trial in the High Court. In arguing for a harsh sentence, Acting Deputy Director of Public Prosecution, Advocate Gertrude Market put forward that gender-based violence remained a scourge where masculinity is used to degrade and undermine women. She added that the courts ought to play a role in making sure that women are protected from the perpetrators of this dehumanising crime.
Advocate Market and Investigating Officer Warrant Officer Mangwale are lauded for delivering justice to the complainants of these heinous crimes. Advocate Pule Mathaha, the case manager from the Tembisa Thuthuzela Care Centre (TCC), where all the eight victims were medically examined and received psychosocial services in preparation for their trial, indicated that the TCC model remains important in fighting gender-based violence and turning victims into survivors. The NPA and its partners within the TCCs like the SAPS, and the Department of Health, and Social Development, shall continue with a vigorous stance against perpetrators of gender-based violence.
Issued by,
Phindi Mjonondwane
NPA Regional Spokesperson- Gauteng Local Division
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