Pta rapist gets two life terms

2008-01-30 20:07

Pretoria - A man whose tongue was bitten off by a victim when her raped her in December 2005 was sentenced by the Pretoria Regional Court on Wednesday to two life terms and another ten years for the three times he had raped the woman.

Magistrate Adriaan Bekker could give this sentence to Lazarus Mnguni, 33, after an amendment to the Minimum Sentence Act became effective at the end of last year.

According to this, regional court magistrates can now also give life sentences for certain offences, like multiple rapes.

Mnguni earlier pleaded not guilty to raping a 30-year-old woman, claiming it was consensual sex and that she was a "commercial sex worker".

The victim testified that he dragged her into bushes near Pretoria and raped her three times that night. During the last time, she bit off a piece of his tongue and managed to run away.

Mnguni was arrested shortly thereafter when he went to Groblersdal Hospital.

During sentencing Bekker said the victim was 1.4m tall and only weighed 43kg, therefore it could not have been difficult to pull her into the bushes.

He said the accused showed no remorse, still denying that he had raped the woman.

Bekker ordered that the sentences run concurrently.

- SAPA