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Serial rapist blames tokoloshe
23/06/2004 16:19 - (SA)
Pretoria - A man who raped eight women in Soshanguve two years ago knew his actions were wrong, but claimed on Wednesday his fear of the "tokoloshe" had driven him to it.
Pretoria High Court Judge Dion Basson sentenced 31-year-old navy chef Daniel Molewa on Wednesday to six life terms and 24 years imprisonment, which will all run concurrently.
Earlier this year Molewa admitted guilt on 12 charges of rape and three of indecent assault. He was out on bail for a double rape when he embarked on a further spree of rapes in 2001 and 2002.
Molewa admitted tracing his victims though advertisements for employment in newspapers and on the internet, making appointments to meet them as a potential employer.
When the victims arrived for interviews, he threatened them with a toy gun, took them to various places, forced them to undress and raped them. Most of the victims were raped more than once.
Visits from tokoloshe in jail
Probation officer Rene Pretorius said in a report Molewa's problems started when, as a teenager, he struggled to develop relationships with girls, who either ignored or teased him. He was not close to his mother, who said he had been "strange" since he was a boy.
He went to see a traditional healer, who told him his problems were due to a tokoloshe that walked with him. In 2001, he started to see and communicate with the tokoloshe, claiming that he started to rape women on the instructions of the tokoloshe.
He knew his actions were wrong, but his fear of the tokoloshe had driven him to it. The tokoloshe still visited him in jail, which frightened him, he claimed.
Molewa said his behaviour became worse after the first incident, when he raped a girl who had befriended him. He said the rapes were preceded by sexual tension and anger and he had been unable to control himself. He felt sorry about what he did afterwards, and always apologised to his victims.
Basson said even if it was accepted that Molewa thought the tokoloshe was real, there was no question of any mental illness. A psychiatric report stated that no psychiatric diagnosis could be made and Molewa in his plea admitted that he knew his actions were wrong and unlawful.
The judge said it was aggravating that Molewa had lured his victims by using their desire to find employment. He had carefully planned his deeds, even taking along a "rape kit", consisting of a toy gun to intimidate his victims, a towel and sponge to lie on and a rag to clean up his victims afterwards.
"You showed little remorse for your conduct. You appear emotionless and show little interest in the impact on your victims," Basson said.
One of Molewa's victims said: "They need to hang this guy. He doesn't deserve to live, because the state is now wasting money on him... In a way it (the sentence) makes it better, because I know we were his last victims," she told reporters.
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