The South Gauteng High Court has sentenced a serial rapist and killer to seven terms of life imprisonment.
Joao Anthony Ntima, 42, who is also known as Joseph Nzimande, was sentenced on four counts of rape and three counts of murder on Monday.
He was also found guilty and sentenced to 15 years imprisonment for each of four counts of robbery with aggravating circumstances, and five years imprisonment for kidnapping.
“The accused was operating in Ekurhuleni between 2014 and 2017. His continued evil deeds came to a halt in August 2017 when the dedicated team of detectives from Gauteng Family Violence, Child Protection and Sexual Offences Unit, together with Crime Intelligence, hunted him down and arrested him,” said police spokesperson Capt Mavela Masondo.
In 2017, Ntima lured three women aged between 24 and 44 to the crime scenes under the pretext that he would offer them employment as domestic workers. He then raped, robbed and killed them.
“There are two surviving victims who were lured the same way by the same convict in 2014. A 27-year-old woman was raped and robbed while a 29-year-old woman was kidnapped and robbed in the company of her 4-year-old son,” said Masondo.
Ntima, according to Masondo, is also linked with a pending case of robbery and rape in Mpumalanga.
He also has a previous conviction of robbery with aggravating circumstances and possession of unlicensed firearm where he was sentenced to more than 20 years in prison.
“Police management has welcomed the sentencing of this habitual criminal who will spend the rest of his life in jail,” Masondo said.
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