Durban — A KwaZulu-Natal high court has handed a man a heavy sentence for 10 counts of rape.
On Tuesday this week, the Mtubatuba High Court sentenced Sfiso Gumede, 38, to 10 life terms after police linked him to 10 counts of rape.
He was further sentenced to 60 years imprisonment following a guilty verdict on four counts of robbery with aggravating circumstances.
KZN police spokesperson Colonel Robert Netshiunda said: “His leave to appeal the sentence was refused.”
Netshiunda said Gumede had established himself as a feared serial rapist in eMpangeni, northern KZN. His raping spree began in 2014, during which he raped four women in three months. - a victim in July, another in August and two in September 2014. His spree continued until December 2022 before police caught him.
Netshiunda explained that Gumede would target women walking alone in Empangeni and would threaten them with either a knife or a firearm. His youngest victim was a 17-year-old girl whom he raped in 2021, and the eldest was a 29-year-old woman from whom he demanded money and a cellphone before dragging her to the bushes to rape her, a modus operandi he used on most of his victims.
In an unrelated matter, a 53-year-old man was handed a life term after he was found guilty of raping his neighbour’s six-year-old daughter in Esikhaleni in November 2023.
Netshiunda said the man would invite children to play in his yard and one day, he fondled the girl’s private parts.
The matter was reported to the police, leading to the man’s arrest.
“The Esikhaleni Regional Court handed down the sentence on October 17, 2024,” Netshiunda said.
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