ALLEGED SERIAL RAPIST TO APPEAR IN COURT ON FRIDAY

ALLEGED SERIAL RAPIST TO APPEAR IN COURT ON FRIDAY

SIYABUSWA - The Family Violence, Child Protection and Sexual Offences Unit in Siyabuswa followed all possible leads regarding rape cases committed around Siyabuswa policing precinct where the same modus operandi used. The cases linked and the serial perpetrator traced and apprehended.

To link the perpetrator to the cases his blood sample was drawn and taken to the Forensic Science Laboratory for DNA tests. The results positively linked him to four cases of rape that occurred in Siyabuswa.

On 27 May 2014, at approximately 19:40, the suspect accosted a 34-year-old woman who was on her way home from a college around Siyabuswa. She held her at knifepoint and forced her to nearby bushes. He allegedly robbed the victim of her cellphone and forcefully raped her.

Another incident occurred on 29 February 2013, at about 20:00, where a 22-year-old woman, was asleep in her rented apartment. The suspect knocked on the door and when she opened the suspect, armed with a broken bottle pushed her back inside the room and switched the lights off. He allegedly demanded her cellphone and in the process forcefully rapped her too.

The other incident occurred on 07 March 2013, at about 10:00, where the suspect came across a 47-year-old woman on her way to a shopping mall in Siyabuswa. The last incident occurred on 20 July 2011, at approximately 07:30, where he met a 29-year-old woman on her way home from work.

In both incidents the suspect asked the victims to check for him what time it was and when they told him they did not have watches or cellphones, he allegedly grabbed them at knifepoint, forced them to the nearby bushes, searched and robbed them of their cellphones then forcefully raped them.

Following the positive match of the DNA tests, a warrant of arrest obtained from the Magistrates’ Court in Siyabuswa and the suspect busted on Thursday, 04 December 2014, at Maganagobuswa near Siyabuswa. He appeared before the Siyabuswa Magistrates’ Court on 08 December 2014, facing four counts of rape. He remanded in custody until Friday, 12 December pending bail application.