Court gives Tsakane rapist 40 years

The Brakpan Magistrate’s Court sentenced Zwelibanzi Mzozoyano (33) from Tsakane to 40 years in prison on November 18.

Mzozoyano was found guilty of two counts of robbery with aggravating circumstances, two of rape and one of attempted rape.

For the first counts of robbery and rape, he was sentenced to 15 years and 10 years respectively, but the court ordered that the sentences run concurrently.

For the second counts of rape and robbery and count of attempted rape, he was sentenced to 10 years, 15 years and five years, respectively. The court ordered the five-year sentence to run concurrently with the 15-year sentence.

Mzozoyano initially pleaded not guilty on May 9 to all charges but was found guilty on all counts on November 8. He was arrested on September 12, 2022, and first appeared in court on November 23 that year.

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He was also declared unfit to carry a firearm.

In the first robbery, which happened in Tsakane on August 6, 2017, he stole R200 cash and a tablet phone, while the second robbery in Brakpan on January 22, 2022, was more extreme.

There, he stole several cellpones, a wallet with cards and an ID document, R400 cash and a bag of clothes. In both robberies, he wielded a firearm.

The first rape occurred on August 6, 2017, in Tsakane with a minor victim, while the second was on December 10, 2017, in Tsakane with a 37-year-old victim.

The attempted rape occurred in Brakpan on January 22, 2022.

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