Mongezi Jinxela — convicted on a total of 219 charges including rape, kidnapping, robbery and assault — was sentenced to life imprisonment and 20 years at the Johannesburg High Court on Thursday.
Handing down judgement, Judge George Maluleke said he recommended that Jinxela never receive parole as he would never be rehabilitated.
”You are a danger to society and you need to be removed for a very long time,” Maluleke said.
He said it was a frustrating reality that the heaviest sentence a criminal could receive in South Africa was life imprisonment.
Crying rape
Jinxela claimed during testimony in mitigation of sentence on Wednesday that women misled men and then cried rape to the courts.
On Wednesday, state prosecutor Louisa Loot revealed that Jinxela also had past convictions of theft and robbery. On November 20 1990 he was found guilty of theft and on May 16 2002 he was convicted of robbery.
Jinxela said his victims had defied their parents’ orders and teachings by lying that they were at school while going around looking for work.
His lawyer, Harold Knobb, requested that Jinxela should receive a minimal sentence, not life imprisonment for the multiple rapes.
He said Jinxela’s victims had not contracted HIV from him and some had not suffered any physical injuries. Knobb said the victims were not virgins but young women. – Sapa