Serial child rapist Joao de Canha was given 10 life sentences on 10 rape charges on Thursday, but might serve just 20 years behind bars.
Judge Hekkie Daniels imposed 10 life terms and a further sentence of 69 years and six months’ imprisonment on Portuguese citizen De Canha (36) after convicting him on 29 charges ranging from rape to kidnapping, robbery and assault.
The judge remarked that whatever sentences he imposed will automatically run concurrently with the life sentences, of which De Canha can only serve one. Present Parole Board regulations stipulate that he can be considered for parole after serving 20 years of his sentence.
De Canha, who described his extraordinary sex drive as his ”personal illness”, had over a period of a few short months in 2001 kidnapped and raped a series of schoolgirls, some of them as young as 10, often using sex aids in the form of rings or bands which he put around his penis before raping his victims.
His victims were mostly poor young girls who were walking to school when he offered them a lift. Two young victims had to leave school after being raped, one because she had lost her only pair of shoes and the other because she was unable to replace her lost schoolbooks.
”One should keep in mind the very tender age of a number of his victims. Some were only 10 years old. They’re permanently scarred and all to satisfy the accused’s lust and deprived cravings.
”There are compelling reasons for imposed the prescribed minimum sentences. The callous and brutal manner in which he raped these young girls and the total humiliation suffered by some of them, especially one young victim who was forced to commit fellatio on him after being brutally raped and then being raped again.
”The brutal attack on another girl is graphically illustrated by the blood-stained rock on which she was raped.
”The accused deserves no mercy and none would be shown,” Daniels said.
The judge commended the police’s investigating team and especially Inspector Gypa Letsoalo for the efficient and professional manner in which they had conducted the investigation.
Without their input, and the manner in which the prosecutors had presented the case, the court would not have been able to consider the charges, he said. — Sapa