SECUNDA – A man who police consider to be a serial rapist, refused to co-operate with his lawyer and give mitigating factors that might save him from a life sentence on Thursday, 20 September.
Mandla Sithole was recently found guilty on four counts of rape and one of kidnapping.
He appeared for sentencing before Magistrate Graham Cupido in the Secunda Regional Court dealing specifically with sexual offences on Thursday.
Sithole was adamant not to make use of his Legal Aid attorney, but to speak for himself.
He continuously questioned why he should provide his legal advisor with any personal information that might mitigate a lesser sentence, claiming that he has no knowledge of the crimes of which he had been accused.
He kept hammering on DNA test results that were presented during his trial.
“I am not satisfied with the outcome of this trial. I do not know anything about the crime and I want the court to send me home,” said Sithole.
Mr Cupido several times reminded Sithole that he had already been found guilty and, although he has a right to appeal the court’s decision, he can only do so after sentencing.
The magistrate gave Sithole time to consult with his lawyer, but when Sithole returned to the dock after lunch, he again took up his claims of innocence.
Sithole was found guilty on two counts of rape for joining in the gang-raping of a 21-year-old woman in 2005.
According to the investigating officer, W/O Hezekiel Malapela from the Secunda Family Violence, Child Protection and Sexual Offences Unit (FCS), Sithole almost got away with this crime, because he pretended to be helping the victim when the police arrived on the crime scene.
Sithole was also found guilty of kidnapping or abducting a 14-year-old girl from her parents’ home in eMbalenhle in 2013 and for raping her twice.
He was acquitted on four other rape charges stemming from a case in 2014 when a woman was raped shortly after having sex with her boyfriend.
The DNA found on a tissue at the crime scene did not match that of Sithole.
Magistrate Cupido told Sithole on Thursday that the minimum sentence for rape is life imprisonment unless the convicted person can give the court mitigating facts to consider before sentencing. He said he would give Sithole one more chance to discuss these with his attorney.
Adv Tshepo Khunwana prosecuted. The case was postponed to 27 September.
Also read:
https://www.citizen.co.za/ridge-times/122482/court-sends-secunda-man-to-jail-for-20-years-for-raping-toddler-with-his-finger-2/
