Durban - A man who dragged a mother of four out of her house and then raped her has been jailed for an effective 35 years behind bars.
Joster Mulungana, 28, was convicted for rape, house breaking and robbery with aggravating circumstances and sentenced in the Ritavi Magistrate's Court on Monday.
According to police spokesperson Colonel Malesela Ledwaba, Mulungana broke into the victim’s shack in Sasekani Village outside Tzaneen in the middle of the night on July 1, 2018.
“The court heard that Mulungana was armed with knife and panga and found the victim sleeping with her four children,” Ledwaba said.
“He robbed her of an undisclosed amount of money and then dragged her out of the shack and raped her.”
He was arrested the following day and remained in prison until his conviction and sentencing.
Explaining the sentence, Ledwaba said Mulungana was jailed to 20 years for rape, 10 years for robbery and five years imprisonment for house breaking, which would run concurrently.
The court declared him unfit to possess a firearm and ordered that his particulars to be recorded in the Register for Sexual Offenders.
In March, a 40-year-old man was convicted of raping his stepdaughter over a period of two years.
“The court further heard that the mother of the victim (girl) would wake the victim up, telling her that her father had to perform ritual exercises on her in the middle of the night,” police spokesperson Brigadier Motlafela Mojapelo said at the time.
“The mother alleged that she was not aware of exactly what was happening to her daughter.”
IOL