Durban - Daniel Joseph Thomas, a convicted killer, raped two young girls while on parole, but he may be freed from jail even before he is 50 years old.
On Monday Thomas, who was formerly known as Gareth Thomas, was sentenced in the Durban Regional Court to an effective 18 years in jail for the rapes.
The minimum sentence for the rape of a minor is life imprisonment unless there are substantial and compelling circumstances to deviate from it.
Thomas had been convicted of the murder of former Durban mayor Mike Lipschitz in 2002 and sentenced to 20 years in prison. Child rights activist Joan van Niekerk said the sentence was “too short” as Thomas was “high-risk”.
“This is a person with no impulse control. The very serious previous conviction should have been an aggravating factor.”
Thomas’s name will be listed on the sexual offences register and he was found to be unsuitable to work with children.
As an 18-year-old, Thomas pleaded guilty to the July 2001 murder of Lipschitz. He admitted that he had bludgeoned Lipschitz to death with a brick after massaging him at his home.
He was released on parole in 2010 after serving eight years of his sentence. After his release, he began working at a Durban school teaching life orientation under the name Daniel Joseph Thomas.
The school had been unaware of his conviction, but when it was exposed, the school kept him on until his contract ended.
Last year Thomas, 32, who is married and has one child, was charged with the rape of a 13-year-old girl he had been tutoring and a 7-year-old girl.
Thomas had been offering tuition in English and maths from his Chatsworth home.
After hearing about the charges, Thomas absconded and his parole was cancelled. He was taken into custody to serve the remaining 12 years of his 20-year sentence.
However, Durban Regional Court magistrate Wendy Robinson ordered that his rape sentences run concurrently with his sentence for murder.
In his plea before the court earlier this year, Thomas said he had become “close” to the 13-year-old girl while he had been tutoring her, and the 7-year-old girl used to come to his home to play with his daughter.
Both crimes, which took place last August, occurred in his home.
Thomas said he had been aware that his actions were wrong and he had confessed to the crimes to the children’s relatives and to his wife.
He said he wanted to plead guilty so the girls would avoid the trauma of having to testify in a trial.
The two girls had said in victim impact statements, which were submitted to the court, that they had flashbacks of the incidents and nightmares.
Both said they had become afraid of men.
In mitigation of sentence, Thomas said he had been sexually assaulted as a child and he was very remorseful for the crimes.
Van Niekerk, president of the International Society for the Prevention of Child Abuse and Neglect, said red flags should have gone up when Thomas started teaching.
She said his sexual behaviour would have been shaped by the abuse or exploitation he had experienced as an adolescent.
“Just because a person behaved well in prison does not mean they know how to behave in society.”
The Mercury is aware that Thomas was also charged with another sexual offence about four years ago.
The charges were withdrawn because the complainant had made similar allegations against other men who were living at the same shelter at the time.
The Mercury
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