Gauteng Spiderman jailed for hundreds of years
Man known as spiderman sentenced for 861 years after he was found guilty of mutliple charges raging from rape to robbery.
Eliot Mahlase
A serial rapist and burglar known as “Spiderman” has been jailed for hundreds of years.
The High Court in Johannesburg sentenced Lucky Murovhi (29) last Friday to eight life terms plus 861 years in prison for crimes committed between 2008 and 2012.
In one of his crimes he was involved in a shootout in Hammanskraal around 2008 where he managed to escape while in court, said police spokesperson Brigadier Mashadi Selepe.
His crimes included rape, robbery and housebreaking.
He was guilty of about 50 house robberies, burglaries, arson, possessing unlicensed firearms and rapes in Honeydew, Booysens, Jeppe, Welbekend, Hammanskraal, Johannesburg Central, Diepkloof and Mondeor.
Murovhi was dubbed “Spiderman” because of his ability to scale high walls to gain illegal entry.
“Lucky Murovhi’s reign of terror spans from 2008 until 2012 wherein he was arrested and escaped several times,” said Selepe.
“He was re-arrested in Hammanskraal after a shootout. When he was taken to court, he asked to relieve himself and never returned from the toilet. He was arrested yet again and taken to Johannesburg prison in 2009, where he vanished after using a false name.”
Murovhi was re-arrested in 2010 but released by mistake at the Randburg Magistrate’s Court under somebody else’s name.
Selepe said detective Sergeant Phakedi arrested Murovhi two years later in October 2012 after he escaped from Johannesburg prison a second time in March of the same year.
This time around, Phakedi asked that Murathi be put in a high-risk facility and undertook to take responsibility for the prisoner’s transport to and from court.
“This prevented the suspect from ever escaping again,” Selepe said.
Murovhi’s modus operandi was mostly to target women who were single mothers or who lived on their own.
He forced entry into their homes through a door or window, carried a torch or a baton with him and robbed his victims of cellphones, cash, laptops and other valuables.
The 29-year-old Murovhi aka Spiderman would serve a total of 861 years, six months plus eight life imprisonment sentences.
He was found guilty on a total of 62 charges, including 10 of robbery and eight of rape.
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