Tebogo Msimanga |
The Pretoria High Court sitting in Benoni convicted a Mozambican national, Anselma George Mahumane (35), for the rape of two teenage girls aged 13 and 16 years old as well as kidnapping and assault. Mahumane committed the offences at Tsakane, in Ekurhuleni.
On 04 December 2013, in the early evening, the 13-year-old girl was walking home to Tsakane extension 1, when she was approached by Mahumane at an open space near the fire station.
Gauteng National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) spokesperson Lumka Mahanjana said Mahumane overpowered, strangled, and raped the girl while unconscious, and thereafter, he left her lying on the ground. “After regaining consciousness, while walking home she met with police officers who took her to the police station, to open a case and consult with a doctor”.
Mahanjana added that three years later, on 03 December 2016, while the 16-year-old was walking home from the shops, Muhumane and two other men who were never traced, threatened the teenager with a knife and proceeded to rape her by taking turns. “After they dragged her to a veld and left her there. She reported the matter to the police. Mahumane was arrested and later released in April 2017, after the Magistrate refused a remand for DNA evidence, and the matter was struck off the court roll. However, Muhumane was rearrested in 2020, after he committed the same offence of rape and was sentenced to 10 years of direct imprisonment in July 2021”.
In this matter, he pleaded not guilty and told the court that he was in a relationship with the 16-year-old complainant. “ However, the state Advocate Salome Scheepers led evidence that proved that Muhumane raped the two teenagers and therefore was able to prove the state case beyond a reasonable doubt”.
