Johannesburg - For the next 105 years, Vuledzani Ramulifho will have time to think of High Court Judge Naren Pandya’s words.
“How would you feel if someone raped your wife or mother?”
On Wednesday, Judge Pandya sentenced the Bramfischerville taxi driver to three life terms and 30 years for the robbery, assault and rape of 14 women in 2010.
Ramulifho would lure the women into his white taxi in the Roodepoort area and pretend to take them home. Then he would pepper-spray their faces, extort or rob them of money, and sexually assault or rape them.
Sentencing him, the judge said Ramulifho showed no respect for the victims’ rights and did not see the psychological and mental pain the incidents had on their lives.
In one instance, a victim had told Ramulifho she was old enough to be his mother, and he had called her a “bitch”.
“Would you call your mother, sister or wife a bitch?” asked Judge Pandya.
The pain and humiliation of this mother and various other victims prompted him to sentence Ramulifho to an effective jail term of 105 years - three life terms for three of the rape counts, 10 years on four other counts of rape, 10 years for 10 counts of robbery with aggravating circumstances, five years for 13 counts of rape and five years for escaping from lawful custody. Only then could he be considered for parole.
Last month, he found Ramulifho guilty on 43 of the 49 counts.
The judge found no mitigating factors to allow him not to pass maximum sentences, saying the fact that Ramulifho had no previous convictions and had left school in Grade 9 were not enough for him to pass lighter sentences.
He emphasised that Ramulifho’s personal circumstances were outweighed by the gravity of his actions and the impact they had on his victims.
He said Ramulifho was lucky to have been able to find employment working as a taxi driver for his older brother.
“What you did, you did not do out of need, you did it out of greed and lust.”
Judge Pandya said Ramulifho had violated the women’s trust repeatedly.
Ramulifho sat with his hands clasped together, leaning forward. He listened intently as the judge said he had shown his brazenness when he denied seeing any of the victims cry or break down during their testimonies.
On Wednesday, however, those cries turned to loud sighs of relief as the victims and their families realised they were finally free of the serial rapist.
“Jesus, thank you Jesus… there is justice after all… finally we are done,” some said as they hugged, cried and laughed together.
Rebecca’s* daughter Cynthia*, now dead, was raped by Ramulifho.
“Even my child is relieved, wherever she is,” said Rebecca. She would go to her daughter’s gravesite and tell her the good news.
“He has tortured us from the first day. From the time I fetched my daughter at a dump site, that image will never leave me.”
Rebecca said the two-and-a-half years of waiting, of her daughter dying in pain, had come to this.
“I don’t harbour any animosity. I’ve forgiven him now and I can start to recover,” she said, smiling.
How he operated:
* The victims were unknown to him;
* He used the same method to snare most victims;
* Threatened most with physical and sexual violence;
* Abandoned victims after hours of abuse;
* Victims were ordered to look away; and
The Star