A 42-year-old woman alleged in the South Gauteng High Court on Wednesday that she witnessed how serial rape and murder accused Jack Mogale lured a teenage victim.
Mary Sepeng said this was after Mogale failed to lure her into his trap when they came across traffic officers as he was about to take a turn into the veld in Westonaria on March 13 2009.
She said Mogale picked her up in Westonaria just after she finished shopping with her children, aged two and three.
He offered her a lift, reminding her that transport to her destination in Venterspost was scarce.
Shortly after she got into the car with her children and groceries, he started asking her questions about her personal life and predicted that someone was going to break her relationship with her husband.
Mogale told her he was a Zion Christian Church (ZCC) preacher and a traditional healer.
A preacher and a healer
She said he drove onto a gravel road which led to a veld in Westonaria, but returned to the main road when he saw traffic officers.
He then took her straight home, even though she had not given him her address.
Sepeng told the court that while she and her children were in the car, Mogale offered a lift to a 19-year-old neighbour, whose sister had sent her to buy snuff at the shops in Westonaria.
The teenager was sitting on the back seat when Mogale dropped off Sepeng, but he told her to move to the front when Sepeng got out.
Sepeng said she had felt uneasy about this and took down Mogale’s registration number when he drove off. The teenager never arrived at her destination.
The teenager, who cannot be named, earlier testified that Mogale also told her he was a ZCC preacher and that he healed people.
He told her she would marry a rich man, but that she had bad luck and needed to drink FG or Joko tea to rid herself of it.
He drove her to a veld outside Westonaria where he allegedly assaulted her with a brick, throttled her until she lost consciousness and raped her.
She told the court she regained consciousness more than 24-hours later and found that her jeans and underwear had been removed and she was wearing only her top.
The woman, who is now 20, said she managed to reach a security guard nearby who called an ambulance and the police.
When she arrived at Leratong Hospital it was confirmed that she had been assaulted and raped.
Dr Alice Shakala-Mashele, who examined her, testified that she suffered serious head, face and body injuries.
These included a fractured jaw that required reconstructive surgery. A few of her teeth had been knocked out. She had also been sodomised.
Shakala-Mashele said maggots had infested the teenager’s head wound, she was traumatised and could not speak properly. Semen was also found.
Some of the girl’s injuries indicated that she was dragged in the veld.
Over 60 criminal charges
Earlier, Dr Saiqa Kashif, of Leratong Hospital, testified that emergency services brought in another woman from Zuurbekom on the night of January 29 2009.
She was in a critical condition and had also been assaulted and raped.
Kashif said semen and mud were found on the woman. Her face was swollen and she had been stabbed in the stomach. She died a month later.
Mogale faces more than 60 charges, including 19 counts of rape, 16 of murder, and 18 of kidnapping.
Most of the bodies of his alleged victims were found decomposing in the veld.
They included a mother and her toddler, whose skeleton was found still wearing a nappy.
Those who survived and pointed out Mogale as their attacker alleged that he lured them into his trap by claiming to be a ZCC preacher, a prophet or a traditional healer.
The case is due to continue on Thursday. — Sapa