A serial rapist from Mankweng who attacked and raped eleven (11) University of Limpopo (Turfloop) women and a 14 year old minor just a month after being granted bail for raping a 32 year-old woman has been jailed for life.
Zacharia Mogale Selowa (24), who would lie and wait for students going home, threaten them with a knife and force them to the local cemetery before violently raping them and robbing them out of their belongings, was sentenced to seven (7) life sentences and 130 years on 12 counts of rape, five (5) counts of robbery and one (1) of kidnapping by the Mankweng Regional Court late Friday.
Selowa’s reign of terror started in March 2012 after he was arrested and released on bail for raping and robbing a 32 year–old female friend in December 2011. Between March and October 2012, he continued with his horror were he viciously raped a 14 year old girl and 11 other female students all aged between 18 and 19 years old. One of the University students was kidnapped and raped repeatedly for a day before she managed to flee through a window of a disused house.
His offending came to light only when she alerted the local police – with Selowa continuing to commit offences while on police bail. Over a period of eight months, 11 other victims reported to the police of their horrifying ordeal providing the description of - at that time - unknown perpetrator and the same modus operandi executed.
Convinced that they had a suspect, since the perpetrator was already under their radar, the police convinced the local magistrate to grant them an order to acquire DNA from Selowa and were permitted. The DNA evidence linked Selowa to the 12 rapes and his supremacy over vulnerable students was put to a dead end in October last year.
Limpopo Provincial Commissioner, Lieutenant General Sehlahle Masemola, was full of praise for the Family Violence, Child Protection and Sexual Offences Unit (FCS) for the sterling work they did in securing a conviction.
“This outcome is indicative of the hard work by the investigating officer and specialised disciplines of the SAPS whom I am extremely proud of. The court could not have passed a more fitting sentence and this will certainly send out a strong message that crime does not pay,” said Masemola.
"We welcome the sentence and I am very pleased that a monster that preyed on defenceless women and a child has been removed from society. The sentence will certainly help deter people from committing such crimes”, added Masemola.
For enquiries:
Brigadier Hangwani Mulaudzi
Cell: 082 373 2408
