Pretoria - Victims of an East Rand serial rapist who murdered one of his victims clapped hands and expressed relief after their attacker was sentenced to life imprisonment on Wednesday.
The rape victims and the mother of 19-year-old murder victim Nokuthula Islam said they were relieved that Bongani Mnguni, 28, would spend a long time behind bars. They were, however, still suffering and would never be able to forgive him.
Judge Jody Kollapen sentenced Mnguni, a former security guard and moneylender of Tsakane, to three terms of life imprisonment for Islam's rape and murder and repeatedly raping another victim.
He was sentenced to a further 83 years - which will run concurrently with his life sentence - for raping three other women and kidnapping, assaulting and robbing some of his victims.
He had tricked the women by promising them jobs, but then took them to deserted places where he raped them.
Mnguni in August 2013 raped and assaulted Islam near a dam in Langaville by hitting her on the head with a broken toilet bowl and leaving her for dead.
She was discovered half naked and unconscious in the veld the next day and taken to hospital.
Her mother searched for her for more than a month before finding her in a hospital, where she had to watch helplessly while her daughter died a slow and painful death. She died about a month later without ever waking up.
DNA tests
Mnguni was the last person to be seen with her and his DNA linked him to the rape.
The court rejected his claims that they had a relationship and that he was the father of her 2-year-old daughter because his DNA excluded him as the father.
Kollapen said Mnguni, who still insisted he was innocent despite overwhelming evidence and in spite of hearing the testimony of his victims, had a total lack of appreciation for the pain, harm, anguish and turmoil he caused them.
The crimes had been carried out in a most callous and brutal fashion and were carefully planned.
Shockingly, he had asked his victims if they were enjoying it while he raped them. He then further humiliated them by accusing them of being prostitutes who owed him money and offered to have sex with him.
Mnguni had slashed away Islam's life in a most brutal manner and robbed her young daughter of the emotional support only a mother could give. The impact of his crimes were devastating, the judge said.
"Going around raping and murdering females goes against everything we stand for in this country.... Society must be protected against you," he added.
Kollapen praised the victims for their willingness to testify and seek justice for themselves and others like them, adding that he hoped it made them stronger as women.
He said Islam's mother could take comfort that she was a good mother and at least had a part of her daughter still with her through her granddaughter.
