Biehl killer guilty of raping disabled woman

Published Nov 5, 2003

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One of the men granted amnesty for the murder of American student Amy Biehl has been found guilty of raping a disabled woman.

Mongezi Manqina was arrested in 2001 after an 18-year-old woman alleged that in 1999 he followed her home one night, overpowered her and then raped her.

She alleged that he also tried to rape her on a previous occasion.

Psychologists testified in the Wynberg magistrate's court that the woman had the mental capacity of a five-year-old child and therefore could not have consented to sex.

Magistrate Daleen Greyvensteyn referred the case to the Cape High Court for sentencing.

Biehl, a PhD student at the Community Law Centre at the University of the Western Cape, was stoned and stabbed to death as she drove three colleagues home on August 25, 1993.

The Biehl case made headlines around the world when it occurred just before South Africa's first multi-racial elections.

Manqina along with Notobeko Peni, Mzikhona Nofemela and Vusumzi Ntamo were granted amnesty by the Truth and Reconciliation Commission for Biehl's murder in Gugulethu in 1993.

Instead of harbouring hatred, her parents, Linda and Peter, employed two of the men - Manqina and Peni - at the Amy Biehl Foundation, which was set up following her death.

Peter Biehl died of colon cancer last year.

Linda Biehl could not be contacted for comment on Tuesday.

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