Rapist gets 53 years
The Soshanguve rapist was sentenced to 53 years in jail by the Ga-Rankuwa Magistrate's court on Wednesday.
David Matsena
The Soshanguve rapist was sentenced to 53 years in jail by the Ga-Rankuwa Magistrate’s court on Wednesday.
The 20-year-old Zimbabwe national, Marcus “Robot” Ngwenya was found guilty on two counts of rape, one of pointing a firearm, kidnapping, and armed robbery.
Ngwenya preyed on women in Soshanguve, Mabopane and Winterveldt during 2014 and was arrested on 19 September.
His victims were between the ages of 18 and 41.
He was acquitted on murder after he blamed his accomplice for killing a woman the two had raped together.
He claimed he left his rape victim alive with Aron Chauke (20) who later told him he had killed the woman because “she was not cooperative”.
Chauke will appear in the Temba Magistrate’s court on 14 September.
Testifying in court, the investigator Warrant Officer Jeffrey Sello Lekalakala said Ngwenya would attack women and drag them to an abandoned house in Soshanguve, then rape and rob them.
“Both women were assaulted by the accused and one was shot and killed after being raped,” said Lekalakala.
Ngwenya was arrested after a shop owner he was trying to sell a victim’s phone to recognised the victim’s husband whose picture was saved as the woman’s screensaver.
Concerned, the man called his friend.
“His friend told him [the shop owner] the phone belonged to his 28-year-old wife who had been robbed and raped,” said Lekalakala.
The man, with the help of the community, then apprehended Ngwenya before calling the police.
Lekalakala said he believed Ngwenya would have raped more women.
One of the victims who was at court told Rekord that she was satisfied that justice had been served.
“I just want to thank detective Lekalakala for his handling of this case from day one. He has never failed us, and I hope the sentence will send out the necessary message to deter would-be rapists and criminals,” she said.
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