Man denies crime involvement even with positive DNA link
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Elukwatini Regional Court in Mpumalanga has successfully handed down a little over 100 years imprisonment to a 40 years repeat offenders for multiple sexual assaults which included a 17 years old young girl and multiple robberies in and around Nhlazatshe.
The court heard that Wonder Thulani Malinga committed these offences between March and October 2019, during which the accused targeted young women living alone in the Nhlazatshe area.
In each incident, Malinga unlawfully gained entry into the victims’ homes, threatened them with a bush knife, concealed his identity with a balaclava, and proceeded to rape them.
The first incident occurred on 3 March 2019, when the accused attacked a 17-year-old victim at her parents’ home. He threatened her not to scream and produced a bush knife before raping her. He continued his crime spree, raping two further victims aged 21 and 22 years.
In the course of these incidents, the accused robbed the victims of their cellular phones, one of which was later recovered from his girlfriend.He was later arrested after being positively identified by one of the victims and linked to the cases through DNA.
He pleaded not guilty and said that the sexual encounters were consensual. However, State managed to successfully place a counter argument and said that the acts were premeditated by the now convicted and as a result, minimum punishment should not be considered for him.
He was sentenced to 15 years’ imprisonment on each rape count, 15 years on each robbery with aggravating circumstances count, and five years on each housebreaking with intent to rape count, resulting in an effective sentence of 105 years’ imprisonment.
