Rapists humiliated woman, court told

THE rape, torture and murder of a Hammarsdale woman was barbaric and inhumane, and deserves life in prison.

THE rape, torture and murder of a Hammarsdale woman was barbaric and inhumane, and deserves life in prison.

Published Nov 16, 2012

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KwaZulu-Natal - The rape, torture and murder of a Hammarsdale woman was barbaric and inhumane, and deserved life in prison.

This was the submission made by State advocate Ruan du Preez, on Thursday, while arguing in aggravation of sentence in the Pietermaritzburg High Court.

Judge Isaac Madondo convicted Sihle Zuma, 23, and Nkanyiso Mkhize, 22, of robbery with aggravating circumstances, rape and murder. They attacked Mildred Mdlalose, 50, on December 18, 2009.

She was walking home with her niece and brother after a night vigil for a relative, in Mpumalanga. Zuma and Mkhize had been at a tavern before they came across the three and decided to rob them.

Mdlalose’s brother was beaten unconscious, while her niece escaped. The men dragged the woman off to an area away from the road.

There, they took turns raping her, committed brutal acts on her, then drowned her in a waterhole.

Zuma and Mkhize made confessions on their arrests, but later retracted them.

However, Madondo found that the confessions were admissible as evidence.

Du Preez submitted that the men had subjected the woman to complete humiliation and had violated her dignity in the worst possible way, gang-raping her and then torturing and drowning her.

Di Franklin and Julian Butler, advocates for the accused, submitted in mitigation that the men were young and capable of rehabilitation.

Madondo was expected to sentence the men on Friday. - Daily News

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