Eastern Cape serial rapist sentenced to eight life terms
· Citizen
A 32-year-old Eastern Cape serial rapist will spend a large part of his adult life behind bars after being found guilty of a series of rapes and robberies committed between 2016 and 2017.
The Eastern Cape Division of the High Court, sitting in Mthatha, sentenced Thabile “Bhino” Nyakiso to eight life terms for the rapes.
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Serial rapist targets women and schoolgirls
The court also sentenced Nyakiso to 15 years’ imprisonment for each of the three counts of robbery with aggravating circumstances and 12 months for common robbery.
Acting Judge Fikile Ntayiya recommended that Nyakiso not be considered for parole until he has served 30 years of his sentence.
Evidence before the court showed that Nyakiso and another unidentified person committed rapes and robberies around Tsolo, targeting women walking from school or work in New Homes and Crossbow townships.
The pair threatened their victims with a knife.
At least eight victims attacked
National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) regional spokesperson Luxolo Tyali said the first victim, a 16-year-old girl, was attacked on 19 June 2016.
A 22-year-old woman was Nyakiso’s second victim, who he attacked on 22 July of the same year near the Tsholo Circuit office.
On 18 November 2016, he raped another 16-year-old multiple times near New Homes township.
“While giving evidence, she told the court that during the ordeal she asked Nyakiso how he would feel if someone did the same to his sister. This did not stop him from continuing the attack,” Tyali said on Friday.
Nyakiso continued his criminal escapades in 2017, raping several more women.
He raped a 26-year-old woman in her rented room at Kobi Flats on 27 May 2017 and two women aged 29 and 39 on two separate occasions on 1 August.
On 12 August, Nyakiso attacked an 18-year-old woman near Crossbow township, and a 24-year-old in the same township on 21 September.
He also raped a 27-year-old woman in her house in New Homes on 6 November.
Tyali said during some of the attacks, Nyakiso robbed victims of money, bank cards and cellphones.
DNA links Nyakiso to rapes
“The victims did not know him,” he said.
Forensic DNA profiling linked Nyakiso to swabs collected from them.
“He had been arrested in connection with a separate rape case in Butterworth, more than 150 kilometres from Tsolo.”
During the trial, Nyakiso pleaded guilty but questioned the accuracy of the DNA evidence.
Tyalis said state advocate Avumile Bikitsha called a witness from the National Forensic Laboratory as part of the state’s 45 witnesses.
The court agreed with the state’s submission that society did not deserve people like Nyakiso in its midst.
“The judge noted that Nyakiso, who has another rape case pending before the same court, was inhumane and had shown no remorse for his offences,” Tyali said.
The Director of Public Prosecutions in the Eastern Cape, advocate Samkelo Mtwana, said the sentence reaffirmed the prosecution’s firm stance against violent crime.