MBOMBELA –  On Monday, April 9, 2018, two suspects combinedly received more than 25 life sentences, in two separate judgements.

In the first case the 30-year-old Nthai Steve Radebe was handed down 22 life sentences in the Circuit of the Pretoria High Court in Delmas, after being found guilty on 22 counts of rape, four counts of the contravention of the Firearm Control Act (60 of 2000) and four of robbery with aggravated circumstances.

The court heard the details of Radebe’s reign of terror - from 2012 until his arrest -  in the KwaMhlanga, Siyabuswa and surrounding areas. The cases that he was found guilty on included, amongst others, an attack on a young girl while she was on her way home with her male friend. Radebe threatened the duo with a firearm and raped the girl repeatedly in a nearby bush, before robbing the couple of their belongings. He also attacked an old woman who was asleep with her grandchildren. He forced a 19-year-old girl from the house whilst threatening the others with a firearm. He then raped the girl repeatedly before fleeing the scene.

In another incident, a mother and her two young boys were asleep in their bedroom when Radebe forced the door open and raped the woman at gunpoint before looting home appliances, cosmetics and clothing.

In 2015, his reign of terror was cut short when he was arrested by police shortly after raping a young woman repeatedly at gunpoint and robbing her of her cellphone. The investigation that followed linked him to the the other cases by means of his DNA.

Radebe was sentenced to a life sentence each for the 20 cases of rape, 20 years for pointing a firearm and 60 years for robbery with aggravated circumstances.

In another case Jabulani Fransisco Mazibuko (43), was sentenced in the Circuit of the North Gauteng High Court in Breyten to three life sentences on three counts of murder.

The court heard how the accused had shot and killed three of his victims, Jabulani Nkosi, Themba Nkosi and David Mkhaliphi, following a heated argument at the Embhuleni Tribal Authority offices on September 7, 2015. The victims had gone to the offices to deliver a petition in which they sought to oppose Mazibuko's inauguration as an induna, which was to take place within the next four days. After shooting the men an enraged Mazibuko handed himself over to the police.

The Provincial Commissioner of the SAPS in Mpumalanga, Lt Gen Mondli Zuma, hailed the men in blue for their sterling work in ensuring that justice was handed down in these two cases. “These stiff sentences will without a doubt serve as a deterrent to other would-be offenders,” Zuma concluded.

Submitted: Col Mtsholi Bhembe
Subeditor: Lynette Brink
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