Luck ran out for a suspected serial rapist that has been on the run since 2016. He was caught at the Umfolozi Hotel Casino and Convention Centre by the police’s Provincial Family Violence, Child Protection and Sexual Offences Unit (FCS).

The 28-year-old is believed to have first raped two females in Newark in 2016, before he moved to KwaMbonambi, Jozini and Richards Bay, targeting at least 10 other victims, including two minors.

“Charges of rape were opened for investigation and the dockets were transferred to the Provincial FCS Unit for further investigation,” said Col Nqobile Gwala in a statement.

He was arrested on 26 October, after detectives received information that he returned to Richards Bay and was seen gambling at a casino.

The alleged rapist was then arrested and detained at the Richards Bay police station.

The man, who cannot be named yet because two of the victims are minors appeared before the Richards Bay Magistrate’s Court the following day.

He has since been remanded in custody pending the next court date, on 29 November 2022.

Alleged sex worker killer

Meanwhile, 20-year-old Sifiso Mkhwanazi, who was in the dock at the Johannesburg regional court on Monday morning (31 October 2022) opted to remain behind bars while investigations in that case continue.

Mkhwanazi is facing a charge of murder after the discovery of six women’s bodies in his father’s panel-beating business in Village Main earlier this month (9 October 2022).

But police have only been able to link Mkhwanazi to one murder so far.

The matter has been postponed to 7 December, for further investigations.

Calls for death sentence

Sex workers told The Citizen’s Lunga Mzangwe that Mkhwanazi deserved to die: “The women he murdered had children, families, and they will never come back”.

“A life sentence will never be enough. He deserves to die a death as painful as the ones they suffered at his hands,” said one woman who asked to remain anonymous.

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