Convicted serial child rapist Fanwell Khumalo failed on Thursday in his bid to have his conviction and jail sentence overturned.
Khumalo unsuccessfully applied for leave to appeal in the Johannesburg High Court against his conviction and sentence of 42 life terms and more than 270 years in jail.
Dismissing the application, Judge Max Labe said he did not think another court could have come to different conclusions ”other than those to which I came”.
”All the matters raised in the application were dealt with by me in the trial judgement,” he said.
Khumalo’s lawyer, Mike Miller, had earlier in the day suggested to Labe that the judge had erred by rejecting Khumalo’s claim that the blood samples had been swapped before they reached the forensic laboratories for DNA tests.
He said Labe had ”over-emphasised the seriousness of the offences” and the life sentences, imposed in the same court last month after he was convicted on 103 counts of rape, kidnapping and indecent assault, were not appropriate. The sentences are to be served concurrently.
Khumalo, a former chef who used to cater for visiting Hollywood stars at Gold Reef City, maintained his innocence despite 23 positive DNA tests from samples taken from victims and their clothing. — Sapa