National police Commissioner, Lieutenant General Fannie Masemola, has congratulated Warrant Officer John Tlala Mokoena and the National Prosecuting Authority’s (NPA) Advocate Salome Scheepers for securing 42 life terms and 791 years for serial rapist Nkosinathi Phakathi.
On Friday, the Pretoria High Court sitting in Palm Ridge Magistrate’s Court in Ekurhuleni, sentenced Phakathi to a hefty 42 life terms, 791 years, and six months’ direct imprisonment.
Phakathi operated in Benoni from 2012 to 2021.
The court ordered that he be declared unfit to possess a firearm, and his name be added to the National Register for Sexual Offenders and the National Child Protection Register.
Furthermore, the judge ordered that the victims be informed when Phakathi was considered for parole, to enable them to make representations.
This was after he was found guilty of 90 counts of rape, four counts of compelled rape, three counts of compelling or causing a child to witness a sexual act, 43 counts of kidnapping, two counts of assault as well as four counts of theft on November 8 2022.
NPA spokesperson, Lumka Mahanjana, said the majority of Phakathi’s victims were school-going children, the youngest being nine-years-old, while the oldest was a 44-year-old female.
“Initially, Phakathi was facing 203 charges, however, the State withdrew 55 minor charges. In court, he pleaded guilty to 148 charges, and his guilty plea statement was read. He targeted his victims while they were going to or coming back from school or work in the morning or evening.
“He also targeted some in their own homes and would pretend to be an electrician coming to fix a geyser or other household appliances before raping some of his victims. He raped some of his victims in the presence of children, in some instances raping more than one person at a time while he also made the others watch while raping the other victims before fleeing.”
Phakathi was arrested and linked to some of the offences through DNA evidence, and a modus operandi linkage report. He was ultimately brought to his knees on March 17 2021 by Mokoena, who shot him in his leg as he was evading arrest in Barcelona, Etwatwa. His leg was subsequently amputated.
It was reported that Mokoena investigated a total of 96 dockets.
Mokoena had this to say about his efforts in bringing Phakathi to book: “What I like about these types of cases is being the voice for the voiceless, becoming a big brother in a playground where the vulnerable of our society especially the survivors of GBV never had. Above all else, I guess the greatest feeling about it all is the inner peace I take away after restoring the survivor’s hope to face life again.
“Healing those emotional and psychological gaping wounds that nobody else sees, providing the victims with justice, and finally seeing smiles on their faces after having reinforced the authority of the State upon the lawless and showing unwavering commitment to the mandate of SAPS and FCS (Family Violence, Child Protection and Sexual Offences). Ensuring the community’s faith in the police is restored is how I measure the success of each case especially this one of the worst serial rapists.”
On Friday, State prosecutor, Advocate Salome Scheepers, argued that Phakathi committed serious offences, and that rape was a very serious offence as it caused humiliation, degrading and brutal invasion of the privacy and dignity of the victim.
“Not only did he rape his victims, he also forced young boys to rape their female friends and terrorised some of his victims at the comfort of their homes. Furthermore, Phakathi showed no remorse for the offences, but only pleaded guilty because the State had overwhelming evidence against him.”
Scheepers also read in the Victim Impact statements, where some of the victims wrote about how the offences affected them. One of the victims who was a virgin at the time of the incident, said Phakathi stole her innocence as she cannot participate in the virginity testing ceremony.
The Acting Judge, Lesego Makolomakwe, agreed with the State that Phakathi showed no remorse and was beyond rehabilitation.
Furthermore, Judge Makolomakwe said the courts had a responsibility to protect communities against perpetrators such as Phakathi.
“Therefore, the court finds that there were no compelling and substantial circumstances to deviate from the prescribed minimum sentence,” she said.
Mahanjana said the NPA welcomed the sentence. “The NPA welcomes the sentence against Phakathi. We hope that the sentence will send a strong message that the NPA takes matters of sexual offences seriously. We also thank the dedication and commitment of the Investigating Officer, warrant officer Mokoena, which led to the conviction and sentence.“
The Acting Gauteng Provincial Commissioner Major General Fred Kekana welcomed the sentencing, saying: “The dedication, thoroughness, and perseverance displayed by Warrant Officer Mokoena will restore our communities’ faith in the South African Police Service. Community members, especially child victims should rest assured that our members will continue to stamp the authority of the State in bringing perpetrators to justice.”
The Star