SERIAL rapist Robert Baloyi, who lured his victims on Facebook, has been sentenced to two life terms for two counts of rape.
The 21-year-old was sentenced by the Polokwane High Court on Wednesday, 1 June.
He was further sentenced to 10 years in prison for two counts of rape, 10 years for robbery and two years for theft.
Baloyi raped his four victims aged between 15 and 22 in Extension 71A outside Polokwane, Limpopo between August 2019 and October 2020. The court heard that Baloyi used Facebook to advertise a tattoo business, pretending to be an artist. When interested customers approached him, he offered free tattoos, claiming it was a marketing strategy.
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The spokeswoman of the National Prosecuting Authority in Limpopo, Mashudu Malabi-Dzhangi, said Baloyi would pretend to initiate the crafting of a tattoo.
“During the process he threatened the victims with steel and a panga and forcibly undressed them. He would then rape them and rob them of their cellphones and cash. After each incident, he would take pictures and video footage while they are naked and threaten to post them on social media if they reported the case to the police.”
Malabi-Dzhangi said he also told one of the victims that he would invite Zimbabwean men to join him in the rape and later bury her.
“He also threatened to traffic the victims. After he was done with them, he would then escorted them to a tuck shop,” she said.
Limpopo police commissioner Lieutenant-General Thembi Hadebe has welcomed the sentence.
