Pretoria - Victims of Pretoria West serial rapist Takalani Mulaudzi, 30, are relieved that the man who made their lives hell by repeatedly raping them, was handed seven life terms.
While the victims are hoping that Mulaudzi remaining in jail for a very long time will help them in their healing process, they are still struggling to come to terms with what this man, described as evil by some, subjected them to.
The Gauteng High Court, Pretoria, sentenced Mulaudzi, from Tshafhasi in Nzhelele, Limpopo, to 173 years’ imprisonment for rape, robbery with aggravating circumstances, kidnapping and grievous bodily harm.
This came after Mulaudzi was convicted of 15 counts of rape, five counts of robbery with aggravating circumstances, three counts of kidnapping and one count of grievous body harm.
The court heard that Mulaudzi started committing these offences in 2015 in and around Pretoria West when he was 23 years old.
He ran a reign of terror in the area until 2019, when he was eventually caught.
He targeted vulnerable women that were either walking alone or in pairs in the evenings. He would threaten them with an object or a knife, then drag them to the closest veld, rape them, take their belongings such as cellphones, money, laptops and then leave them.
Judge Tshifiwa Maumela was told that the accused often had conversations with the victims and asked them personal questions about their lives.
One victim testified in court that Mulaudzi told her he was studying law while he was raping her.
Another victim also testified in court that while she was walking along a road in Wespark one night, Mulaudzi pointed a knife at her and instructed her to go with him.
When they reached the bushes, he instructed her to lie on the grass, tied her with a cable tie, covered her mouth with Sellotape and then raped her.
After the incident, Mulaudzi directed her to go towards the Magalies freeway where he professed his love and told her he regretted his actions.
However, he raped her again continuously the entire night.
Another victim told the court about her inhumane ordeal when Mulaudzi threatened her with a knife while she was walking. He took her to a secluded spot, where he raped her.
But this was not the end of her nightmare as he forced her to walk further with him, where he then stuffed her into a manhole and raped her again.
He left the victim inside the manhole, where she struggled to get out.
Mulaudzi was eventually arrested on July 10, 2019, at his workplace in Joburg, after he was traced through one of the phones that he stole.
Judge Maumela expressed his shock at the devastating impact of the crimes on the victims.
Pretoria News