Pretoria - A 23-year-old serial rapist has been sentenced to three life imprisonment terms after also stabbing one of his victims on the head with scissors in an attempt to kill her.
Police spokesperson Ndakhe Gwala said Mzwanele Thando Hohlo was sentenced on Tuesday in the Wynberg Sexual Offences Court in Cape Town.
Gwala said in 2018, a former investigating officer Captain Herman Hanekom, from Nyanga SAPS family violence, child protection and sexual offences unit made a connection in reported cases from the Philippi East precinct in which Hohlo used the same modus operandi.
Hanekom collected exhibits on similar cases and sent all the evidence to the SAPS forensic science laboratory for DNA analysis.
“The results revealed that all the cases were linked to a case opened in 2017 at Langa SAPS against Mzwanele Hohlo,” Gwala said.
Upon follow up, Hohlo could not be found at his address, but the investigating officer located his mother at Willowvale in the Eastern Cape who confirmed his date of birth.
She had no knowledge of his whereabouts.
Photographs of Hohlo and his ID number were circulated as police were searching for him. He was finally located and arrested after his girlfriend laid charges of assault against him in 2019.
Hohlo pleaded guilty to the charges.
Gwala said he was sentenced to three life imprisonment terms for rape, two five-year imprisonment terms for attempted murder and 12-month imprisonment for assault with intent to cause grievous bodily harm.
In a similar matter, the same court sentenced a 27-year-old man to 38 years for rape and assault with intent to cause grievous bodily harm.
Sandile Tyhalelo attacked a 6-month pregnant woman in broad daylight on a farm in Philippi.
“The accused hit the victim on the head with a brick which knocked her down and proceeded to rape her twice. The victim suffered injuries to her legs, stomach, arms and back,” said Gwala.
IOL