A serial rapist have finally been sentenced to life in prison by the Western Cape high court in Tuesday.
The 29-year-old notorious serial rapist from Nyanga made use of taxi to get his unsuspecting victims and assault them.
The Western Cape high court sentenced him to a life sentence and another 210 years behind bars.
This was after he was convicted on six counts of rape, a count of sexual assault, eight counts of kidnapping and eight counts of robbery with aggravating circumstances.
Thobile Dyonase got two life sentences for rape, 15 years imprisonment for each of the eight robberies with aggravating circumstances, 10 years on four counts of rape, five years on eight counts of kidnapping and 10 years imprisonment for sexual assault. The sentences would run concurrently.
According to the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) spokesperson Eric Ntabazalila, Dyonase was a taxi driver in Nyanga.
“From August 12 2017 to October 2 2017, he drove around the Tableview and Parklands areas and targeted women walking alone in the dark on their way to catch public transport to work,”
He would try to get their attention as normal taxi drivers do to attract passengers.
As soon as she enters the taxi “he would tell her he needed to take a different route to avoid traffic,” he said.
Once he is off the usual route, Dyonase would turn to his victim, taunt her for boarding the wrong taxi, collect her cellphones, money and bank cards.
He had raped six women using this method.
His crimes left his victims traumatized.
“One victim told the court she ran whenever she saw a man, would jump out of a moving vehicle once the driver locks the doors, and would jump whenever a strange man looked at or greeted her,” said Ntabazalila.
Dyonase pleaded not guilty to all the charges against him.
The prosecution pleaded with the court not to be lenient with Dyonase sentencing.
Western Cape provincial police commissioner, Lieutenant General Yolisa Matakata welcomed his conviction.
“Cape Town communities, particularly women, will be safer with the accused serving a lengthy sentence,” she said.
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