‘I could not sleep in the dark for months’: Victim of rapist ex-Bolt driver

One of the victims of a former Bolt driver convicted of raping her has detailed the impact the attack had on her, saying she continued to carry fear from the attack more than two years later.

The woman, who cannot be named, testified in aggravation of sentence in the Johannesburg high court on Friday.

Emmanuel Mudau, 27, was convicted on February 21 on four counts of rape, four of kidnapping and two of assault with intent to cause grievous bodily harm.

He was arrested in 2022 for the rapes, three of which occurred after the women requested a ride on the e-hailing platform. It emerged in court at the time that he joined Bolt as a driver in January 2022 and the first rape occurred eight days after he started. The second and third happened weeks apart.

The matter was set down for two days and Mudau spent most of Thursday and a bit of Friday this week in the stand pleading his case. He initially showed no remorse for his crimes and only grudgingly admitted to what he did when pressed by the state.

The state pressed him to “play open cards” with the court by explaining why he carried out the attacks before Thursday's early adjournment, which was prompted by load-shedding, but he declined to answer.

It was then the chance of one of the women Mudau raped to speak about how the ordeal affected her, and she detailed the physical and emotional strain it took on her. She was Mudau's last victim on February 24 2022.

“After this incident happened to me, I couldn't sleep at night for a few months.”

She said Mudau had given her something to drink and applied a “red vaseline” like substance on himself before raping her. This caused medical complications for her which required hospital treatment.

The woman was emotional when she detailed her struggle to readjust to work and the fear she developed being out at night and around men with certain features.

Mudau's defence, arguing in mitigation of sentence, asked the court to consider his relative youth, submitting he was a suitable candidate for rehabilitation.

State prosecutor advocate Colleen Ryan, arguing in aggravation of sentence, said he taunted his victims while they testified. That he invoked God in his message to the victims infuriated her, saying it made him look like a “false prophet”.

Sentencing is expected later on Friday.

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