A 25-year-old Ndwedwe man was jailed for life plus 5 years last week for kidnapping and raping a woman walking to a taxi rank, leaving her afraid and suicidal.
NPA spokesperson Natasha Kara, said Lindokuhle “Lindo” Mlangeni had approached the 19-year-old woman in January 2019 and proposed a relationship.
She declined and walked away.
He followed her, pulled her into the bush and strangled her until she lost consciousness.
“She woke up naked and he pulled her by her hair to his house. There he raped her and kept her locked in the house until the following afternoon,” said Kara.
The woman went home dressed in his underpants and T-shirt.
She reported the incident to her mother and visited a doctor the following day.
A month later, she reported the case to the police and Mlangeni’s house to police.
“She pointed out his house to the police and he was arrested. She was later taken to the Thuthuzela Care Centre, an NPA one-stop rape crisis centre, based at the Mahatma Gandhi Hospital where she got access to post-trauma services.”
Appearing in the Verulam Regional Court last week, Mlangeni denied kidnapping the woman and maintained that the sexual encounter was consensual.
Regional court prosecutor, Ishara Sewnarayan, led the victim’s evidence, then the first report, which came from her mother and medical evidence.
The court found the victim to be a credible and reliable witness despite Mlangeni’s denial.
In her statement, the victim said:
“I have lost faith in God. I am now unemployed as a result of this offence. On that day, I was coming from work when I was seen by the accused and got raped. I decided to quit my job as I fear being raped again if I go out. I have even thought about suicide. This case has cost me my reputation and the dignity of my family.”
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