The Pretoria high court has sentenced a Mozambican man to two life sentences plus eight years for raping two teenage girls in Ekurhuleni.
Anselma George Mahumane, 35, was found guilty in June of raping the girls, aged 13 and 16, in Tsakane in 2013.
The 13-year-old was walking home in Tsakane in the early evening of December 4 2013 when she was approached by Mahumane in an open area near the fire station.
He overpowered, strangled and raped her, leaving her unconscious on the ground, National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) spokesperson Lumka Mahanjana said.
“After regaining consciousness, she walked home and on the way she met with police officers who took her to the police station to open a case and consult with a doctor,” she said.
On December 3 2016, a 16-year-old girl was walking home from the shops when Mahumane and two other men threatened her with a knife.
The men then took turns raping her and dragged her into a veld where they left her.
Mahumane was arrested and later released in April 2017. The other men involved in the gang rape were never traced.
The matter was struck off the court roll as the magistrate refused to remand the matter for DNA evidence. But in 2020, Mahumane was rearrested after committing another rape which led to him being sentenced to 10 years’ imprisonment in July 2021.
He pleaded not guilty in the other two rape cases, telling the court he was in a relationship with his 16-year-old victim.
Mahumane was found guilty in June. Prosecutor Salome Scheepers told the court he had showed no remorse and his only concern was that his rapes had got him arrested.
“She read into the record the victim impact statements of both the victims, where the 16-year-old wrote that after the incident she developed a sexually transmitted disease, which led to one of her ovarian tubes being removed which might make it difficult for her to ever have children,” said Mahanjana.
Scheepers argued that given the seriousness of the offences and that Mahumane had taken the innocence of both teenage girls he should be removed from society.
In his judgment, judge Ratha Mokgoatlheng concurred that Mahumane had showed no remorse and did not think about the lives of his victims.
The judge said he could not find any substantial or compelling circumstances to deviate from the prescribed minimum sentence.
“After the sentence, Mahumane, through his attorney, applied for leave to appeal against the sentence in respect of the two life sentences, however the NPA successfully opposed the application.”
Source TimesLIVE
