55-year-old taxi driver sentenced to life for rape
Butterworth taxi driver has been sentenced to life imprisonment for the 2019 rape of a 19-year-old hitchhiker. 55-year-old Sindile Lennox Somdaka and two accomplices repeatedly raped the victim for three days while chained to a steel bed at his homestead in Mission Location in May 2019. The 19-year-old victim was kidnapped while hiking to her home. According to National Prosecuting Authority, Luxolo Tyali, the victim managed to escape when kidnappers were transporting her to a nearby forest to be killed. “The victim ran to the rescue of Msobumvu Township residents, subsequently leading to the arrest of the taxi driver at the ran,” said Tyali.
During the court proceedings, Somdaka claimed to have been in a romantic relationship with the victim, but under cross-examination, he started to contradict himself and also would not give up the names of his accomplices.
The Butterworth Regional Court has sentenced Somdaka to three years for kidnapping and 12 months for assault with intent to cause grievous bodily harm, with the latter sentences ordered to run concurrently with the life sentence.
