Rapist guilty on seven charges of rape

A man who faced seven charges of rape and robbery committed in the Randfontein area was handed down a life sentence for each of the rape charges in the South Gauteng High Court on 2 August.

During her investigations Sergeant Thobeka Nkosi, who is stationed at the Krugersdorp Family Violence, Child Protection and Sexual Offences Unit (FCS) managed to link Simon Petrus Rasool (30) to the crimes, which led acting judge AJ Mbongwe to passing a guilty verdict on all charges.

Because the accused also robbed his victims, he was sentenced to an additional nine years’ imprisonment on six charges of robbery and 15 years’ imprisonment on a charge of aggravated robbery. All these sentences will run concurrently.

Nkosi realised that something was brewing when two cases of rape with similar modi operandi were reported in May last year.

In the first case on 8 May 2012, the 27-year-old victim was offered employment by a man standing at the Randfontein railway station. He lured her away and took her to an open veld in the Helikonpark area where he raped her.

The second incident, on 17 May 2012, the suspect acted in exactly the same manner.

When the second case was assigned to her, Nkosi immediately spotted the similarities between the two cases.

She intensified her investigations and her diligence was awarded when she arrested Simon Rasool on 18 June 2012, and managed to link him to another five cases in which the suspect used a slightly different but basically similar modi operandi. In these cases he also targeted his victims at the Randfontein railway station, but he offered to carry their luggage and accompany them to their destination in town.

The Krugersdorp FCS extend their congratulations to the investigating officer for her dedication.

Her innovative approach to the investigation is commended, including the time spent in tracing the victims and comparing the cases, which resulted in this success. She is an example to all in the manner in which she handled the cases.