Rape, robbery and kidnap spree earns notorious criminal 20 life sentences

A man who terrorised Tembisa and Ivory Park with his seven-month rape and robbery spree has been handed 20 life sentences by the high court in Johannesburg.

Serial rapist and housebreaker Joseph Rasempane Mahloma has spent three years on trial. He was convicted in 2018 on 90 counts - including rape, robbery with aggravating circumstances, defeating the ends of justice and kidnapping.

He received 20 life sentences for each of the rape charges, with further sentences for other crimes, bringing an end to the marathon trial on Friday.

During Mahloma’s crime spree, he would often break into residents’ homes, rob the occupants and rape women and teenagers living there. In two particularly grim incidents, he forced his victims to use sewage drain water to wash their genitalia, seemingly in a bid to destroy DNA evidence that could incriminate him.

The court earlier heard harrowing victim impact statements from two of his victims, who said their relationships and lives had been forever damaged.

Judge Leicester Adams said in a damning judgement that he believed Mahloma had few prospects of rehabilitation, having shown little remorse for his actions.

Mahloma still has the option to appeal both the conviction and sentencing.