PRETORIA - SOSHANGUVE - SERIAL RAPIST IDENTIFIED WITH BEADS OH HIS PENIS!

A man accused of being the serial rapist with beads on his penis was yesterday described by the state in the North Gauteng High Court in Pretoria as ruthless and deserving of a harsh sentence.

This was the closing argument from a state prosecutor in the rape and assault cases against Sipho Mbokazi, 37, who terrorised Soshanguve, Pretoria, women and households for about two years.

Mbokazi is alleged to have raped 11 women, including two children, between August 2012 and April 2014.

He was arrested on April 15 last year.

He allegedly held his victims at gunpoint, raped and robbed them, and before fleeing the scene, insisted that they washed themselves first.

Prosecutor Advocate Lizette Williams yesterday argued before Judge Jody Kollapen that all the 42 witnesses who testified had a comparable testimony, which illustrated Mbokazi had a dedicated modus operandi.

One of the victims, a 38-year-old mother, testified that she was raped twice while her 16 years old daughter was raped once. This after Mbokazi had forced his way into their home. The ages of his victims ranged from 15 to 38.

Two of the victims, who are schoolgirls, were allegedly raped on their way to school in the morning. A third schoolgirl, who was not raped but assaulted, testified that she was forced to perform oral sex on Mbokazi.

He faces 45 charges in total. This include 15 for rape, 16 for indecent assault, 10 for housebreaking and four for robbery. He has pleaded not guilty to all the charges.

During his testimony, he said he knew and was romantically involved with two of the victims, but did not rape them.

His victims revealed in court that they recognised him either because of his face or his private parts.
He had beads on his penis, something he agreed to, but said he was not the only man with beads on his privates and that they [the beads] did not prove that he was the rapist.

His defence also argued that it was inconclusive to suggest that one can be identified by penis beads, and called for him to be acquitted on all the charges.

But Williams said even if the bead recognition hypothesis was not used, there were still those who saw his face; and his modus operandi of insisting that all women washed their private parts after the rape was proof enough that this was the same person.

Williams said Mbokazi should be found guilty on all the charges.

The matter was postponed to September 1 for judgment.

VIA - sowetanlive.co.za