Trial date set for suspected serial rapist

A trial date has been set in the Pinetown Magistrate’s Court for a 45-year-old man who evaded the police by using sanitiser on his victims and their homes after allegedly raping and killing some of them. Picture: Supplied

A trial date has been set in the Pinetown Magistrate’s Court for a 45-year-old man who evaded the police by using sanitiser on his victims and their homes after allegedly raping and killing some of them. Picture: Supplied

Published Oct 11, 2023

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Durban – The trial against a man suspected of being a serial rapist and murderer operating in the Queensburgh area is expected to begin in the Pinetown Magistrate’s Court in less than a week.

The accused recently made his second appearance in the regional court where a trial date was set. His matter had been transferred from the district court in August, charged with two rapes.

He made his first appearance in the regional court in September.

While appearing in the district court the man was charged with two counts of murder and two counts of rape and house robbery.

However, he had the two murders provisionally withdrawn as the State continued investigating.

The man had made it difficult for the police to identify him as he cleaned the scene and his victims with sanitiser after the crime to eliminate DNA.

He had also allegedly gone to the lengths of biting his fingertips in a bid to not leave any evidence and also making it impossible for police to take his fingerprints upon arrest.

It is expected that on the day the trial begins, the charges against the accused will be read out to him before he pleads.

The accused cannot be named until he pleads.

Evidence Ntombifikile Seager was raped and killed in her Queensburgh home in August last year, allegedly by a man believed to be a serial rapist and murderer. Picture: Supplied

The two murder charges that were provisionally withdrawn against the man relate to Malvern residents 40-year-old Evidence Ntombifikile Seager and 72-year-old Savithree Moodley.

In August last year, Seager’s body was found not far from her home.

She had been stabbed 12 times in the chest and had handcuffs around her ankles. She had allegedly been raped as well.

Items that were allegedly stolen from Seager’s home were found on the accused when he was arrested.

Moodley was found murdered in October last year in her home with stab wounds to her chest.

A month before this the accused allegedly broke into a woman’s home in Northdene, Malvern, where he subjected the victim to grievous bodily harm before raping her.

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