Five life sentences for a serial rapist

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The North Gauteng High Court on Thursday sentenced a 33-year-old man from Nellmaphiusi in Pretoria, Sello Abraham Maponya to five life terms and further 988 years imprisonment for 72 counts of rape, housebreaking and robbery with aggravating circumstances collectively. 

Judge Masopa also ordered that Maponya’s name be added to the National Register for Sexual Offenders. 

National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) Regional Spokesperson Lumka Mahanjana said Maponya committed these offences in and around Pretoria from November 2014 to January 2019 raping multiple women. “His youngest victim was 14 years old at the time of rape. In some instances, he broke into the victims’ houses, robbed them and proceeded to rape them, either alone or with accomplices.”

Maponya was arrested on 20 March 2019 in Mamelodi for cell phone theft, then his DNA samples were taken it and linked him to rape cases opened at various police stations in and around Pretoria over a period of five years. He initially pleaded not guilty to all the charges but during the trial he submitted his formal admission.

When delivering his sentence, judge Masopa said Maponya had no respect for women because he committed some of the offences during the period of 16 days of activism of no violence against women and children. “Therefore, it was up to the courts to put an end to these crimes.”

 Mahanjana said the NPA welcomed the sentence.

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