Durban - Over a period of eight years, a serial rapist preyed on defenceless women, breaking into their homes or accosting them on their way to work, but on Tuesday he was put behind bars for life.
Musawenkosi Gumede, 29, of Inanda, has been convicted of raping six women in Verulam, Margate, Umbombo and Jozini between 2004 and 2012, after being linked to the crimes through DNA.
Gumede was linked to the cases after he was arrested for the rape and robbery of a Phoenix woman whose home he broke into in July last year. A sample of his DNA was taken. That case was still pending.
Durban High Court judge Johan Ploos van Amstel sentenced Gumede on Tuesday to three life sentences for three counts of rape and 107 years in prison for four other counts of rape, housebreaking, robbery with aggravating circumstances, assault with intent to do grievous bodily harm, and attempted murder.
In handing down the life sentences for rape, the judge found that the victims had been brutally attacked, robbed, assaulted and left on the side of the road.
One of the women was also raped with a bottle and kicked and dragged across the ground and another was choked until she thought she would die.
An 18-year-old woman was punched so hard that she lost sight in her left eye and the hearing in her left ear.
Judge Ploos van Amstel said Gumede was a “danger to society, particularly women” and had shown no remorse for his actions.
“He was merciless. I doubt he has a realistic prospect of being rehabilitated.”
He said the aggravating factors in the crimes far outweighed Gumede’s personal circumstances and he could find no substantial and compelling reasons to deviate from the prescribed minimum sentences for all of his crimes.
The judge said in the cases in which Gumede had been linked through DNA, he had told the court he did not want to talk about it and only claimed that one of the incidents had been consensual sex because the victim had died in 2006. The judge said in their victim impact statements, the women spoke of “shame, anger and fear of men”.
“There are few more deplorable acts than breaking into a woman’s home to rape her. A woman who is going to work should also be able to rely on the protection and help of the men she encounters.”
In mitigation of sentence, a probation officer’s report said that Gumede had left school in Grade 4 and worked as a street vendor. His mother had said he had been raised with “good morals” and she had been shocked at his crimes.
In aggravation, State advocate Noxolo Dube said the victims’ physical injuries might heal, but the psychological scars would haunt them for the rest of their lives.
The judge said all the sentences would run concurrently and Gumede would only be eligible to apply for parole once he had served 25 years in prison.
The Mercury