Victims of 'taxi rapist' now the ones laughing

27 February 2015 - 19:01 By Leonie Wagner
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Image: Gallo Images/Thinkstock

“He ruined my youth…then he laughed at us but now we are the ones laughing.”

This is what a 27-year-old woman said after the man dubbed the 'taxi rapist' was found guilty of attacking her and 12 other women.

On Friday, the Johannesburg High Court sitting in Palm Ridge found Lawrence Mabunda guilty of 21 counts of rape, 13 counts of robbery and one count of attempted murder.

The court found that the state proved beyond reasonable doubt that Mabunda was the man who would lure young women into his taxi under the guise that he was offering help. He would then take them to a bushy area and threaten to kill them before ordering them to undress, caress his penis and then rape them at knifepoint.

In each case he would use his victims’ underwear or clothing to wipe himself clean and then flee.

But on Friday, three of the 14 women he was accused of raping of robbing cheered after hearing the guilty verdict.

Mabunda’s only defense throughout the trial was to deny ever meeting any of the women, except one whom he claimed was a sex worker he had consensual sex with.

But judge Caroline Nicholls found his version “ludicrous…contradictory, inconsistent and often incoherent”.

Following the verdict, one woman said: "I feel like justice was served. I hope this is a lesson to other rapists… one day is one day.”

Nicholls acquitted the 38-year-old taxi driver of 13 kidnapping charges as she felt the women “voluntarily” went with him, which did not constitute being deprived of their freedom of movement.

She found that the DNA evidence from each of the complainants’ rape kits left "no doubt" that Mabunda had raped and robbed the women.

Sentencing will begin on Monday.

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