A serial rapist from Kagiso who targeted unemployed women was sentenced to 134 years imprisonment by the High Court of South Africa’s Gauteng Local Division recently.

In a statement from the National Prosecuting Authority’s Regional spokesperson, Hurbetin Phindi Mjonondwane, she explained that the 36-year-old Percy Matimba Chauke was charged for the crimes committed between 2016 and 2017.

Chauke, from Tshepisong, was charged with nine counts of rape, six counts of robbery and one charge of theft.

He would convince his victims that he was taking them to a prospective recruiter’s place and point out a place with a thoroughfare that passes an open veld,” Mjonondwane said.

When they came to the veld he would then threaten the women with violence by either using a firearm or a knife. He would then rape them and rob them of their money and belongings.

“He would then leave them in the veld. The victims would then get to the road for help,” she said.

In some of the cases he casually spoke to women who were waiting for taxis on the side of the road in and around Krugersdorp.

But then he would threatened them with a firearm or a knife, lead them to secluded areas or bushes, rape them and rob them of their belongings.”

In some cases he would commit an act that state prosecutor, Advocate Pakanyiswa Marasela, described as despicable.

“Chauke raped three of his victims, thereafter took pictures of their private parts and threatened them with posting the pictures on social media, should they report him to the police,” Mjonondwane explained.

Advocate Marasela called ten victims to testify in aggravation of sentence about the impact the crimes have had on their lives.

She pleaded with the court not to deviate from the minimum prescribed sentence of life imprisonment as there were no substantial and compelling circumstances to warrant a deviation.”

Advocate Marasela also argued that the crimes occurred over a period of time and were not crimes of opportunity but rather deliberate, and that Chauke took no responsibility for the consequences of his crime, and he deserved to be removed from society permanently.

“The court found Chauke’s conduct to be inhumane and he stripped the women of their dignity by subjecting them to rape.”

Mjonondwane said that acting Judge Johnson remarked that Chauke has no conscious at all – even in court he was trying by all means possible to delay the case, thereby also delaying the process of closure to the witnesses.