CONVICTED serial rapist, kidnapper and robber Buku Tshisudzungwane will spend his life in prison after pleading guilty to all his charges.
This comes after the 23-year-old from Ha-Magidi Village outside Thohoyandou in Limpopo was sentenced to life imprisonment plus 75 years by the High Court sitting in the Thohoyandou Local Division on Thursday, 10 November.
Tshisudzungwane was facing 31 counts, ranging from gang rape, attempted rape, kidnapping, house robberies, housebreaking with intent to commit robbery, housebreaking with intent to steal, robbery with aggravating circumstances, malicious damage to property and theft out of the motor vehicle.
Between July 2015 and August 2016, Tshisudzungwane and his accomplice were terrorising the communities of Makwarela, Mbaleni, Ha-Magidi and Thohoyandou Block G. They would enter homes of victims and threaten them with a crowbar and pangas before robbing them of their motor vehicles, bags, money, cellphones and other valuable items.
NPA Limpopo regional spokeswoman Mashudu Malabi-Dzhangi said: “They would put their victims inside their cars while driving around the locations and bushes during the night.”
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She said one of the victims was raped several times and abandoned in the bushes.
Tshisudzungwane pleaded guilty and admitted all his charges.
“The state evidence was overwhelming and the court found him guilty as charged.”
During aggravating of the sentence, state Advocate Robert Nekhambele submitted that Tshisudzungwane acted in common purpose to terrorise his neighbouring locations.
“He is a cruel young man who targeted women who were staying with minor children,” she said.
Nekhambele pleaded with the court to remove him permanently as he is heartless and arrogant.
During sentencing, Judge Legodi Phatudi said the complainants were indeed violated, and the offence would never be erased.
Phatudi sentenced Tshisudzungwane to life imprisonment and the sentences were ordered to run concurrently.
Malabi-Dzhangi said they welcomed the sentence and hoped that would-be offenders would learn from it.
