A 34-year-old Sebokeng handyman was sentenced to 207 years’ imprisonment on Friday for raping 14 women and attempting to rape another, Free State police said.
Lekgaba Molamu used to travel to the Zamdela area of Sasolburg in the Free State, where he befriended women between the ages of 14 and 21 under the pretext of offering them jobs.
The crimes were committed between April 2001 and June 2003.
During the trial, the judge at the Circuit Court in Parys was told how one of Molamu’s victims fell pregnant, most of them failed at school and another attempted suicide after she was sent to a school for children with special needs.
Northern Free State police spokesperson Captain Rosa Benade said at the time that Molamu was arrested after one of his victims recognised him in a taxi.
”Moments before the arrest, one of Molamu’s victims recognised him in a taxi in Zamdela and notified the police,” said Benade.
After the arrest, the 14-year-old girl told police he had offered her a job and that they were on their way to a place where an interview would be conducted.
Further investigations showed this was Molamu’s modus operandi — getting young women to follow him to remote places.
”During the investigation, police forensics linked the accused to 18 different offences with DNA evidence,” Benade said.
Molamu in court also admitted to all charges.
East Rand women raped under similar circumstances by an ”alleged serial rapist” with the same modus operandi were also investigated in Molamu’s case.
”None of the victims in the East Rand had positively identified the northern Free State suspect,” Benade said after denying there could be a link between the two cases.
Molamu, who was also known as Japie, stayed in a flat next to his mother’s house in Sebokeng and used to do ”piece jobs”, or casual labour, in the Vanderbijlpark and Sasolburg region.
Judge Carl Cillié on Friday ordered that Molamu serve 27 years in prison before he can be considered for parole. — Sapa