5 LIFE TERMS AND 988 YEARS FOR PRETORIA SERIAL RAPIST
The High Court of South Africa: North Gauteng Division, Pretoria, sentenced a 33-year-old man from Nellmaphiusi in Pretoria, Sello Abraham Maponya, to five life terms and further 988 years imprisonment for 72 counts of rape, housebreaking and robbery with aggravating circumstances collectively. Judge Masopa also ordered that Maponya’s name be added to the National Register for Sexual Offenders. Maponya committed these offenses in and around Pretoria from November 2014 to January 2019 raping multiple women. His youngest victim was 14 years old at the time of the rape.
In some instances, he broke into the victims’ houses, robbed them and proceeded to rape them, either alone or with accomplices. Maponya was arrested on 20 March 2019 in Mamelodi for cell phone theft, then his DNA samples were taken it and linked him to rape cases opened at various police stations in and around Pretoria over a period of five years.
Maponya initially pleaded not guilty to all the charges, however, during the trial, he submitted his formal admission. The then 14-year-old victim, now 19-years-old, indicated in her victim impact statement that after the incident she found it hard to concentrate in class which resulted in her grades dropping. Another victim told the court that six months after the incident she tested positive for HIV and AIDS. When delivering his sentence, the judge said Maponya had no respect for women because he committed some of the offences during the period of 16 days of activism of no violence against women and children. Therefore, it was up to the courts to put an end to these crimes. In his argument Prosecutor, Advocate Pieter Coetzer, said Maponya is a textbook example of a serial rapist, who embarked on a reign of terror in the Tshwane area for 5 years. He added that due to the heinous actions of Maponya, the innocence of victims were taken and many lives were destroyed.
The Court Preparation Officer based at the DPP office provided support to the victims before they testified in court. The NPA welcomed the sentence and commends the work well done by the SECI Unit of the SAPS and the investigating team which lead to a successful prosecution
