Fanwell Khumalo, a convicted serial rapist, may spend the rest of his life behind bars.
Khumalo was sentenced in the Johannesburg High Court on Friday to a total of more than 270 years in prison after being convicted on 103 counts of rape, kidnapping and indecent assault. He received 42 life sentences and may never be considered for parole.
Convicted by Judge Max Labe for raping young schoolgirls over a three-year period by pretending to be a policeman, Khumalo has maintained his innocence despite 23 positive DNA tests from samples taken from victims and their clothing.
"You have caused untold suffering to more than 40 children and their families," said Labe while passing the sentence.
He said it "would be wrong to single out some of the rapes as being more serious and others as less serious".
Labe also said he felt sure the sentence passed "would satisfy the community" as well as the victims and their families.
"You set out on a deliberate campaign of raping and abusing young girls because you were angry with them," he said adding it was the court's duty to ensure children were protected from Khumalo's "heinous crimes".
"I apologise for wasting taxpayers' money on this (18-month) trial that could have been used for the sick and hungry," Khumalo told the court on Wednesday, still professing his innocence.
Khumalo, a former chef who used to cater for visiting Hollywood stars at Gold Reef City, was arrested on March 7, 2001.
Psychologist Gerard Labuschagne who was called by the prosecution to place aggravating factors before the court, testified that there was "no possibility the accused will be rehabilitated".
He classified Khumalo as a "paedophile and serial rapist", saying serial rapists had a compulsion to rape but knew the difference between right and wrong.
"Serial rapists almost never stop their activities of their own accord," said Labuschagne, a police senior superintendent in charge of the investigative psychology unit in Pretoria.
He added that serial rapists often became serial murderers. In the beginning Khumalo committed a rape a month. Before his arrest this had escalated to a number of rapes a month.
Labuschagne said in South Africa there were no specialised programmes to treat serial rapists in prison.
The trial lasted for almost 100 days. - Sapa