It has been nearly a year since the trial of alleged Daveyton and Thembisa serial rapist, Sipho Lucas Phiri, began in the Gauteng Division of the High Court, sitting at the Benoni Magistrate’s Court.

Today (July 9), State prosecutor Esther Kabini called her final two witnesses and rested her case.

Phiri, a former Passenger Rail Agency of South Africa security guard, is expected to take the stand from July 14 to 18 to testify in his own defence.

He stands accused of 44 counts of rape committed between 2018 and 2023 in Thembisa, Norkem Park, Daveyton and Putfontein.

Additional charges include 43 counts of kidnapping, 41 of pointing a firearm, and 17 more that include fraud, the obstruction of justice, compelling someone to witness a sexual act, and contraventions of the Police and Firearms Control Acts.

Since August 28, 2024, the State has called more than 60 witnesses, including complainants, an expert from the SAPS Forensic Science Laboratory in Pretoria, and the investigating officer, Detective Sergeant Kaizer Mbele of the Benoni Family Violence, Child Protection and Sexual Offences Unit.

The final witnesses to take the stand were five officers from the Daveyton, Norkem Park, Thembisa and Mara (Limpopo) police stations, who verified deponent statements collected from alleged victims at their respective police stations’ Client Service Centres.

Their testimony was called because the complainants refused to appear in court, having moved without informing the investigating officer of their current addresses. Two other complainants have died since filing their initial complaints.

The proceedings were briefly adjourned after Advocate Marianne Mampuru, Phiri’s defence attorney, raised concerns regarding the authenticity of a witness statement to be entered as evidence before Judge Rasigamani Bhika.

Mampuru argued that the complainant had not initialled each page of the four-page statement.

“To my knowledge, legal documents should be initialled on every page to affirm the contents are accurate and correct,” she said.

“A full signature is required on the last commissioned page. I therefore feel this document cannot be entered as evidence.”

Bhika referenced the national guidelines for taking statements from minors, which state that all pages of witness statements must be initialled.

“However, these are guidelines, and in this instance, an adult female made the statement. The statement will be accepted, and the weight of the content decided at a later stage.”

Phiri will return to the dock on October 13. Three weeks were set aside for Mampuru to continue with her defence.

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