10 ID serial rape suspect
2009-07-02 22:04
Johannesburg - Ten women identified a suspected serial rapist during an identity parade at the Khutsong police station on Thursday, police said.
Sergeant Busi Menoe said the tenth woman had phoned the police on Wednesday evening after reading media reports about his capture.
She said that she had been raped by the 36-year-old suspect.
"She described him and the car he was driving in."
During the parade she and the other nine victims positively identified him as their attacker. He later appeared in the Westonaria Court where his case was postponed to July 6.
This was due to the court receiving a notice that the Oberholzer Magistrate's Court had declined his appeal to a sentence handed down in 2008.
"The court had found him guilty and sentenced him to four- and half-years imprisonment for raping a woman in 2008."
Modus operandi
He was released while his appeal was being reviewed by the court. He would appear in the court on Friday to be formally notified of the decision.
The man was arrested in Bekkersdal when police spotted his car on the N12 on Tuesday.
"His modus operandi was to drive along the N12, R28 and R500 roads offering women hitch-hikers a lift in a silver-blue Mazda sedan."
The man would then stop the car, claiming that there was something wrong with it.
"He would remove the rear licence plates of his car and proceed driving."
He would then drive a bit further before stopping the car in the bushes and allegedly raping his victims at gunpoint.
Afterwards he would drive off, leaving the victim behind, who, due to the licence plate having been removed, would be unable to identify the vehicle.
- SAPA