525 years in jail for taxi rapist

05 March 2015 - 11:44 By Leonie Wagner
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Handcuffs and a gavel. File photo.
Handcuffs and a gavel. File photo.
Image: Gallo Images/Thinkstock

Goodbye and good riddance. This was the attitude of the Johannesburg High Court sitting in Palm Ridge when it sentenced convicted serial rapist Lawrence Mabunda to 525 years in prison on Wednesday.

Mabunda, 40, was last week found guilty of 21 counts of rape, 13 counts of robbery and one count of attempted murder.  

The man dubbed the “taxi rapist” would lure women into his taxi pretending to be a “good Samaritan” offering them transport home, only to take them to an open field where he would brutally rape them at knife-point.

He raped his first known victim in August 2009 and he then later continued his raping spree between February 2010 and May 2010. He was finally nabbed in 2013 when his DNA was linked to 14 rape cases all revealing a similar modus operandi.

On Wednesday, Judge Caroline Nicholls sentenced Mabunda to 13 life sentences - one for each of the women he was convicted of raping - as well as 15 years in prison for each of the 13 robbery charges and 5 years or the attempted murder charge. This amounts to 525 years in prison and Nicholls ordered that the sentences should not run concurrently.

Nicholls said to Mabunda: “You have ruined the lives of many women, you are a danger to society and to women…and should be removed from society for as long as the law permits.”

But Mabunda indicated that he plans to appeal his conviction and sentence.

During the trial six women testified that their partners blamed them for the rape and that they still “hated black men”, suffered from nightmares and lacked interest in sex. 

Mabunda's other victims could either not be traced to testify or have died.

Nicholls said the case was a “sad reflection” on South African men who “further victimise” rape victims.

“What is tragic is that the complainants suffered a double trauma at the hands of [Mabunda], firstly by the rape and secondly by their partners who blamed them,” Nicholls said.

One woman, who was 22 years old when she was raped, said: “I’m on cloud nine, I’m so happy. It’s a new day for me.”

Last month, in the same court, Albert Morake, who was convicted of raping 29 women, was sentenced to 1535 years in prison, which included 30 life terms. His sentences will however run concurrently, unlike Mabunda’s.  

Nicholls said it would be “a long time” before Mabunda would be considered eligible for parole and that his name will also be entered in the National Register for Sex Offenders.

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