One of serial rapist Emmanuel Mudau’s victims has shared her relief and joy at the hefty sentence handed to the former Bolt driver, saying he deserved the lengthy prison term.
The woman, who cannot be named as she’s a victim of a sexual crime, lamented Mudau’s wasted opportunity to better his life instead of committing the crimes he did.
She made these remarks after Mudau, 27, was slapped with two life sentences and two 15-year terms, among others, for raping, kidnapping and, in two cases, assaulting women during a month-long crime spree in Randburg.
He got 15 years each for two rape counts, life imprisonment for the other two and five years each for the four kidnapping counts.
“I order all of the sentences to run concurrently ... the effective period of imprisonment is therefore 25 years, and I direct that I may fix a period during which [he] shall not be placed on parole. The period I fix is 16 years,” acting judge CJ Coertse said in handing down sentence.
Mudau was also declared unfit to possess a firearm.
‘Justice has been served’
The relieved woman spoke to TimesLIVE Premium exclusively after the matter concluded on Friday afternoon.
“I’m feeling so happy. I’m relieved that at last justice has been served. I’m happy for the four of us and I’m happy that the court believed us. I’m just so happy that he’s going where he deserves to go.
"[The past two years have] been so hard because now I can’t go anywhere. Every time I have to travel at night, it’s a problem. Every time I see someone who’s a bit dodgy, it’s a problem,” she said.
She said she did not feel free to do anything she wanted.
“Now [when] the case came back and the police would call me to come to court, I’d think [about having to] see this man again and standing in front of the court to explain again what happened. It was too much, to a point where I wanted to give up, but I’m glad I didn't,” she said.
The brave woman, who was Mudau’s last victim and who helped nab the serial rapist through social media, said she didn’t think the day would come when Mudau would face the music for his crimes.
She was in court as Mudau tried to plead his case in mitigation of sentencing and essentially expressed no remorse for his crimes. The 27-year-old refused to admit to his crimes initially and only apologised for “breaking their hearts”.
He had a change of heart when the state pressed him on the matter.
Commenting on this and Mudau’s attempt to paint her in a bad light, the woman said: “I didn’t even care [about what he said] as long as he’s going to jail.But I was so hurt finding out that he could’ve done something with his life, providing for his child, but I’m hurt for him that he could’ve been somewhere in life but he chose to do some stupid stuff,” she said.
Mudau had tried to argue for mercy using the fact that he had a young child, but this was rejected by the court.
Lack of remorse
Handing down sentencing, Coertse spoke about the lack of remorse Mudau showed in committing a “disgusting” and “horrible” crime as rape.
He also cited Mudau’s conduct in court throughout the trial, which showed the court the kind of person it was dealing with. Coertse added that Mudau ought to have known that his conduct was unlawful, and said despite the arguments made about him being educated, he was only “technically qualified” as no educated person would do what he did.
I was so hurt finding out that he could've done something with his life, providing for his child, but I'm hurt for him that he could've been somewhere in life but he chose to do some stupid stuff
— Victim
“In little more than a month, he destroyed the lives of four women. It’s safe to say he would not have stopped his reign of terror, especially in light of the fact that he’s shown no remorse for his horrific actions.
“And I trust that the sentences this court is about to impose on him will make some contribution to help them, the complainants, to reclaim their lives. They are not bad women, as they probably feel.They are upright and very brave to report it and to come to court and give their evidence, notwithstanding the pressures,” Coertse said.
Mudau immediately put in an application for leave to appeal the life terms and 15-year sentences, pleading that they were too harsh, especially as it meant his child would grow up without his father, but Coertse was having none of that and rejected it as “baseless and without merit”.
Legal action against Bolt
Also commenting on the matter was Makhakheni Mashele, from Godrich Gardee Attorneys, who confirmed that the firm is set to launch legal action against Bolt.
“In terms of the civil claim against Bolt, we are representing all four victims and will be, now that the sentence has been handed down, getting a hold of the transcripts and consulting our advocates in terms of how to proceed.
“It is going to be an uphill battle, but we need accountability in this instance,” he said.
He said the civil action was being done to get justice for the women and was an “awareness that e-hailing companies cannot just hire people without doing due diligence in terms of background checks”.
Mudau’s reign of terror began on January 17 2022, eight days after he started working as a driver for Bolt. The then 25-year-old drove a woman, who had requested a ride on the e-hailing app from Cosmo City, to a deserted area and raped her.
A week later, on January 29, he committed a similar offence against another woman who had ordered a ride on the app. Four days later, on February 2, he approached his third victim when she was in an ATM queue and offered to give her the money she needed to withdraw, which she could in turn transfer to him.
The unsuspecting woman agreed and accompanied him to his car, which he started driving with her inside despite her pleas to stop and let her out.
He drove her to an abandoned veld where he stabbed her with a knife and raped her.
His final victim was violently attacked on February 24 after she too requested a ride on the app.
Mudau drove her to an open veld where he instructed her to undress. She refused and tried to run away, but he grabbed her then strangled her before raping her.
She told the court he gave her liquid to drink and applied a “red vaseline-like” substance on himself before raping her, which later caused an infection.
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