EVANDER – Thokozane Kunene and Sunday Sibande were handed life sentences in the Evander Regional Court on Monday, 26 November.
They were charged with kidnapping, robbery and rape.
They received life sentences for the rape charges, 15 years imprisonment for armed robbery and five years for kidnapping.
A vaginal swab and blood sample were taken and tested for DNA. This matched the perpetrators.
One of the accused was allegedly involved in a fight before the rape and was bleeding from his nose, thus causing blood to fall on the victims’ hat.
This eventually lead to identifying him. The rape happened in 2012.
Initially, the accused pleaded not guilty to the charges they faced but later confessed.
On 8 July 2012, the victim was reportedly at an establishment in eMbalenhle with her boyfriend, who was a key witness in the case and testified on the events that led to the victim’s demise.
Three men approached them, took the victim away and led her to an open veld or as described by the victim, a place close to a graveyard, at knifepoint.
As the three men led her to the location, one of the men took her cell phone and fled, leaving the victim with the two accused.
The men raped her repeatedly, vaginally and orally, simultaneously, threatening to kill her if she did not cooperate.
Once the victim saw an opportunity, she ran to a nearby accident scene where she met a female police officer who assisted her in reporting the incident and also testified on what she saw from that moment on.
Kunene said that the victim did not say that she was angry or that she would go to the police.
The rapists were apparently under the impression that the victim agreed to the intercourse and they agreed that they would pay her R150, and because they did not have the money, the victim was disappointed and went to the police and reported it as rape.
The victim said she did not know the accused and found it difficult to identify the men who raped her.
