Four life sentences for rapist and robber

The man who terrorised the Tongaat community in 2013 – raping, murdering and setting the bodies of three women alight – has been made to answer for his crimes.

On Thursday, March 26 the Durban High Court handed down four life sentences and 53 years imprisonment to Sphiwe Khoza for rape and robberies that he committed from May to June 2013.

According to National Prosecuting Authority spokesperson Velekhaya Mgobhozi, Khoza met a women in Tongaat in May 2013 and he lured her into a bush where he raped, robbed and strangled her with a belt before covering her body with branches.

“In June he lured Virginia Hlatshwayo into a sugar cane plantation in Tongaat, he robbed and killed her. He then set her body alight,” said Mgobhozi.

Later in June he took his third victim, Bongiwe Majozi, to a field where he robbed and killed her before also setting her body alight.

He used both Majozi and Hlatshayo’ s bank cards to withdraw money from their accounts.

The court handed down three life sentences to Khoza for the murders as well life sentence for rape of his first victim. He was given 15 years each of the three counts of robbery with aggravating circumstances and eight years for the four counts of theft.

“The presiding officer ruled that the sentences will run concurrently with life sentences,” said Mgobhozi.