A man who raped a second woman not long after his first rape charge was provisionally struck off the court roll due to outstanding DNA results, was eventually sentenced to two lifetimes behind bars.
Simamkele Nkomphela (now 27) was 22 years old when he first raped a 13-year-old relative on the outskirts of eMbalenhle in 2013.
He lured the girl from her home under the pretence of taking her to the eMbalenhle Mall, but en route, he steered the girl toward Mandela Section where he claimed to have had a new RDP house that he wanted to show her.
However, Nkomphela took the girl to the outskirts of the township where he raped her.
Hearing the girl’s screams, a nearby cattle herder rushed to help and found Nkomphela on top of the girl.
The herder beat Nkomphela with a knobkerrie and set his dog on the rapist.
Nkomphela ran off without his pants.
The herder then took the traumatised girl back to her home, told the parents of her ordeal and presented them with Nkomphela’s pants.
The court heard testimony that an aggressive Nkomphela arrived at the girl’s home later that same day and demanded back his trousers.
The victim’s parents took her to the eMbalenhle Police Station to open a case of rape.
Although the police gathered enough evidence and DNA to take the case to court, the matter dragged on while the state waited for the DNA results from the police’s laboratory in Pretoria.
The matter was eventually provisionally withdrawn pending the DNA results.
Nkomphela’s second victim was attacked in Ext 25 in 2015.
The 21-year-old was walking to a point where she was to meet her ill sister, who had just been discharged from Evander Hospital.
It was around 03:00 and the sister had phoned the victim to ask for help getting from the drop-off point to their home.
Nkomphela grabbed the young woman off the street and forced her to a secluded area on the outskirts of the township.
He assaulted and raped her, and then stole her cellphone before fleeing.
By the time the half-naked woman made it home, her sister was already at their house.
Sergeant Hezekiel Malapela of the police’s Family Violence, Child Protection and Sexual Offences Unit took up the investigation and the team was able to find the location where the rape took place.
The police eventually matched Nkomphela to the crime with DNA and evidence collected from the scene.
The two cases were then linked and Nkomphela was arrested and charged on May 9, 2019.
His trial was heard in the Evander Magistrate’s Court before Regional Magistrate Victor Ball.
Ball found Nkomphela guilty in the Secunda Regional Court on April 7.
Nkomphela was sentenced the same day to a life sentence on each of the rape charges, five years’ imprisonment on a count of kidnapping, three years for assault and a year imprisonment for theft.
These sentences will run concurrently.
Bonginkosi Matsuele was the prosecutor.
Sgt Malapela was elated about the sentence. This was the 48th life sentence he had secured in his career as a member of the FCS.
