Convicted paedophile and serial killer Sipho Dube should be jailed for life, prosecutor Joanie Spies told the Johannesburg High Court on Tuesday.
In pre-sentence submissions Spies said Dube’s crimes were premeditated and he had treated his victims with ”absolute contempt”.
She called for life sentences for the three rape charges and six child murders.
Dube (27) was convicted of 31 crimes: The murders of six children in Johannesburg and a woman in Ladysmith between May 2001 and January 2004, 11 kidnappings, three rapes, six indecent assaults, one assault with intent to cause grievous bodily harm, one common assault, one robbery and one theft.
Spies described how one child went through ”agony and humiliation”. Another was battered with ”at least six blows to the face” and the bodies of two children were never found.
Spies said that if life imprisonment is imposed, Dube will probably be eligible for parole after 25 years. She asked the court to give some direction to the Department of Correctional Services on this.
Defence attorney Jesse Penton said he could not argue against the number and seriousness of the charges, but asked the court to see Dube ”as a human being” and allow him to serve the sentences concurrently.
The courtroom was packed, mainly with legal students from the University of Johannesburg.
Dube sat with his head on his knees. A court orderly told one woman to move her crutch out of reach of Dube, who has previously tried to attack the victim’s families and journalists.
Cameras were prohibited from the courtroom. — Sapa