Slight reprieve for serial rapist as NW High Court upholds conviction but lowers sentence

You're still a serial rapist and “sexual thug” and deserve a long sentence.

This, in a nutshell, was the ruling by the North West High Court after serial rapist Sifiso Mbamali's bid to overturn his conviction and multiple life terms for rape handed to him 16 years ago by the Rustenburg regional court.

Mbamali was convicted in 2008 on five counts of rape, one of attempted rape, two of robbery with aggravating circumstances and two of robbery. He was handed five life sentences for the rapes, seven years for attempted rape, 15 for one robbery with aggravating circumstances count, three for robbery and a year each for the second robbery with aggravating circumstances and robbery charges. He was acquitted on a second count of attempted rape. The sentences were ordered to run concurrently.

Mbamali's application was based on several grounds, including that the court erred in finding that: 

• the state proved his guilt beyond a reasonable doubt;
• there are no improbabilities in the state’s version;
• the state’s witnesses gave evidence in a satisfactory manner; and  
• the court over-emphasised the public interest and negated his personal circumstances in handing him the life sentences.

Mbamali was 23 at the time of the offences and 26 when he was sentenced.

His conviction stems from a reign of terror that started in May 2004 until January 2005 when he was arrested after robbing his last victim.

It was the state's case that Mbamali's modus operandi was to lure women looking for work into accompanying him to alleged places of employment and raping them on the way before robbing them. 

He often introduced himself as Thabo, Themba or Search to women. The first incident, on May 20, took place after his first victim accompanied another woman to the latter's workplace in search of work.

“She was supposed to meet a man who knew of a woman looking for someone to work for her. The man she was supposed to meet arrived and she identified him as the accused. Mbamali did not give her his name and indicated he was going to take her to a white lady.

“They walked through town to the railway line, using a specific footpath through the bush. Mbamali started walking slower, removed his jacket, tied it around his waist and jumped on her back. She fell to the ground after which Mbamali removed her underwear and raped her. He also had a knife with him which he placed next to her.”

He raped her twice before robbing her of her cellphone.

More than a week later, on May 31, Mbamali lured another job seeker to the same spot, but this time the victim managed to attract attention before he could rape her. She also “managed to scratch him under the eye, causing it to bleed; she just could not remember which eye”, the court heard. It was this mark that helped his remaining victims identify him in the ensuing identity parades.

Five days later, on June 5, Mbamali struck again, this time under the alias “Search”. He claimed to be offering work and when the unsuspecting woman accompanied him to conclude the process he led her in the direction of a mine.

“She started to get scared and voiced to [Mbamali] they would never reach the place. He grabbed her by her clothes and threw her to the ground. He informed her he was going to have sexual intercourse with her.

“He removed her skirt and pulled down his trousers and underpants to his knees. He pulled down her underwear. She informed him she was menstruating but he told her he did not care and raped her. He robbed her of R300 and a cellphone.”

Two days later, Mbamali bumped into a woman on her way to the department of education and asked her if she knew of anyone who was “computer literate and looking for work”. They exchanged numbers which she passed on to her sister-in-law who became his next victim on June 9.

The woman testified she met “Thabo” outside a jewellery shop in town and he took her to “the office” apparently hiring. 

Instead, he led her to bushes where he pointed a gun at her and threatened to kill her.

“She pleaded with him not to shoot her but take the belongings she had. He took her ring, chain, earrings, cellphone and R350. At the time he took the items, the firearm was not pointed at her. After this, he pushed her out of the footpath they were on and into the grass.”

He raped her but stopped halfway when she told him she was HIV positive.

Mbamali struck twice more before his reign of terror came to an end on January 25 2005.

On the day of his arrest he robbed and assaulted two women and was on the verge of raping them when they “refused and told him he could rather kill them. They ran away into the bush and walked to the main road where they came across a police van”.

“They informed the police what happened and the police went to look for Mbamali. He was arrested in the bush under a tree,” the court heard.

Mbamali denied the charges against him and instead claimed he was shot at and assaulted by police during his arrest. 

The high court, in its judgment, found: “In considering the totality of the evidence presented in this case, Mbamali’s bare denial cannot stand. The learned magistrate properly evaluated the evidence presented by the witnesses. The evidence needs to be considered in context and in its entirety and any immaterial contradictions are to be discarded.

“When considering all the evidence on the record, there is no basis for this court to find the trial court misdirected itself in finding the state proved its case beyond reasonable doubt. As a result, the appeal against the conviction stands to be dismissed.”

Despite this, the court found the regional court “misdirected itself in that it did not have jurisdiction to impose a life sentence” and instead lowered his life terms for the rapes to 15 years each. Two of the counts were ordered to run consecutively while the rest will run concurrently.

“The effective sentence to be served is 30 years' imprisonment. The sentence is antedated to August 21 2008,” the court ruled.

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