Serial rapist Mongezi Jinxela was found guilty in the Johannesburg High Court on Thursday on 220 charges of rape, kidnapping, robbery and assault, the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) said.
Spokesperson Tlali Tlali said Justice George Maluleka found Jinxela guilty of raping 57 women — making him one of the country’s worst serial rape offenders.
At the closure of the state’s case earlier this year, he was acquitted on 26 counts related to seven complainants, due to insufficient evidence.
On Thursday, Jinxela was acquitted on a further 16 charges because some had been duplicated.
The 10-month trial saw more than 120 witnesses testifying, including 56 of Jinxela’s alleged victims.
According to the state, Jinxela’s crime spree spanned 10 years, up to the day of his arrest in August 2004.
He lured the women to deserted places, telling them his employer had a vacancy for a female person.
He would then take them to mine dumps and fields where he raped and robbed them of their possessions.
”He continued to prey on vulnerable and unsuspecting members of our communities … he caused human savagery for far too long. He inflicted unimaginable pain and hardship to his victims. The long arm of the law finally caught up with him,” said Tlali.
Tlali said the NPA would like to register its recognition of the hard work carried out in the case by the South African Police Service as well as the prosecution of the case by the NPA staff.
This was an example of a pledge that law enforcement agencies were making to South Africans that they would relentlessly pursue those whose conduct disqualified themselves to live in harmony in communities.
”Those who violate especially women and children through cowardly acts that include rape, we say to them the organs of state will spare no effort in pursuing them and that they will probably be convicted once prosecuted following their arrest,” Tlali said. – Sapa