Two Winterton men who stalked women and girls before assaulting, gang-raping and robbing them were given two life sentences by a Pietermaritzburg High Court judge on Thursday.
Judge Noel Hurt said the conduct of Mfamani Magaqula and Sibeniso Nqubuka, both 23, was inexcusable and savage. ”There are no substantial and compelling circumstances which would induce the court to impose more lenient sentences than the life imprisonment prescribed by law.”
One of their prey testified that she was repeatedly raped for seven hours.
The men were convicted in the Estcourt Regional Court and referred to the high court for sentencing.
They were also given other prison terms, but Hurt said the Supreme Court of Appeals had ruled that all sentences were served concurrently with a life term, and life sentences did not have a cumulative effect.
They were given life sentences for the gang-rape and aggravated assault of a 14-year-old girl and the gang-rape of a woman who was threatened with a firearm.
They were also sentenced to three years’ imprisonment for escaping while being transported from the Winterton Magistrate’s Court to a holding cell.
Evidence given was that they hunted together, sometimes with a third person, and then pounced, raped and robbed. — Sapa