Alleged serial rapist and multiple murderer Sipho Dube (30) deserves to be locked up for life, the uncle of one of his victims said on Monday.
Joaquin Bernardes was speaking on behalf of the family of murdered 11-year-old Tina Bernardes, whose body was found near a mine dump in November 2003.
”We are glad the case is finally coming to conclusion and are hoping for a guilty verdict and a life sentence,” he said. ”It’s been exceptionally difficult for the family, especially for Tina’s father, who is still undergoing counselling.”
Bernardes’s call for conviction and life jail term for Dube was supported by Nandi Kuwane, a mother who had wept when events leading to her 10-year-old son’s death were described in the Johannesburg High Court earlier this year.
As she sat stony-faced near the Bernardes family during a lunch break on Monday, she said: ”My child and others won’t come back … but I’m hoping for conviction as well.”
Kuwane’s son, Lukhanyo, was found by a passing motorist on a roadside near Rosettenville, his body badly battered. The motorist rushed him to hospital in a bid to save his life but the boy did not survive.
Lukhanyo and Tina are among the six children killed, allegedly by Dube between May 2001 and March 2004 in Ladysmith and Johannesburg. The seventh murder was that of a 38-year-old woman.
The judge presiding over Dube’s case, Judge Seun Moshidi, said in his summary judgement on Monday that the crimes were characterised by the same modus operandi.
He said victims — such as Tina and Lukhanyo — had been approached at public places and then taken under bridges, or to mine dumps or bushes, where they were assaulted, raped and murdered.
Also, Moshidi said Dube had lured his victims by ”promising them toys, or pretending to be a police officer or a handyman who could fix electrical appliances for them”.
”Victims suffered head injuries, chest wounds and cerebral trauma,” he said.
Dube has pleaded not guilty to all 41 charges against him. These include seven of murder, 17 of kidnapping, four of rape, six of indecently assaulting girls and boys, three of robbery and one charge each of theft, attempted theft, assault and escaping from custody.
He was arrested on November 9 2003 after members of the Bernardes family traced him to Maimai hostel in Johannesburg. Two months later, Dube escaped from the Wynberg Magistrate’s Court, only to be rearrested four days later on January 16 2004.
His arrest came after he allegedly attempted to steal a car and stabbed the owner.
Dube told the arresting officer his name was Clifford Mbatha, until Superintendent Piet Byleveld proved otherwise.
In testimony earlier this year, Dube said police had forced him into pointing out crime scenes by repeatedly assaulting him. He also said he was forced to sign incriminating statements after officers took him to a farm outside Pretoria and applied electric shocks to his private parts.
The judge found this to be improbable. On Monday, Moshidi said: ”The accused’s assault version was contradictory, inconsistent and confusing.
”I have come to a conclusion that the pointing outs were performed freely, without any assault as alleged … and that the accused was aware of his constitutional rights at all times.”
Moshidi’s judgement continues on Tuesday. — Sapa