MBOMBELA – An alleged serial rapist lures his victims by offering them employment. This came to light in the Gauteng Circuit of the High Court in the city on Tuesday.
Mr Timothy Danger Magagula (35) of KaMajika Village appeared in court on 12 counts of rape, nine of attempted murder, two assault, five robbery and three kidnapping charges.
He is accused of raping nine women spanning a period from 2009 until he was arrested in January 2013. Magagula has only pleaded to two charges of rape, the rest he claims were consensual sex.
State prosecutor Ms Dora Ngobeni told the judge Mr Francis Legodi that a Dr Mabaso had seen the accused when he was first apprehended. She said he had revealed to the doctor that he was HIV positive.
“The accused knew he needed treatment which is why he informed the doctor.”
The charge sheet against him, read like a predator who apparently preyed on victims in the Hazyview area by luring them into a trap. Most of his them were in their 20s except for two older women.
The document stated that in one of these incidents in December 2012, the accused had apparently placed an advertisement in the local paper. The sister of one of the complainants saw the advert offering employment and contacted the number. She apparently set up a meeting with Magagula and her sister who was unemployed. The latter then apparently went to Perry’s Bridge to meet him. According to the charge sheet, she was then supposedly held at gunpoint by the accused and forced into a vehicle. It stated he then allegedly took her to a nearby river and tied her up, stabbed and raped her.
Another victim was also apparently promised work, when she accompanied him for the job, he allegedly robbed and raped her three times. He also stole R800.
Police stated that Magagula had first being taken into custody after he broke into his neighbour’s house and robbed and raped the elderly woman. He was then let out on bail. Magagula then failed to appear in court again and a warrant for his arrest was issued.
This apparently did not stop him from committing more rape. Finally the police captured him when they set a trap for him in the Sand River area with the help of one of his victims. She had gone to report the crime and subsequently had discovered he had left his cell in her jacket pocket.
On her way to the station he allegedly contacted her and requested she bring his phone to him. This she told the SAPS. The police then waited for him with the victim, but he managed to evade them. This is when the local community approached the cops as the accused was known in the Sand River area.
The police then apparently went to Magagula’s house and found him sitting under a nearby tree and arrested him.
Ngobeni requested a postponement so that a forensic expert could testify with regard to the DNA findings which the defence were contesting. Legodi then postponed the trial until Thursday.
