‘Ghost’ who attacked 40 East Rand schoolgirls
● For six years he has stalked a community on the East Rand in Gauteng, raping at will, terrifying thousands as he preys on schoolgirls and their mothers.
And despite a R50 000 bounty on his head, a police task team tracking him and an identikit being circulated, the so-called Putfontein Plumber seems unstoppable, his rampage becoming increasingly violent.
“He’s like a ghost. Everyone knows he is here, but no one knows or sees him. We live in fear, praying that he does not attack our children again,” said Daveyton community leader Adelaide Mutandare.
Since June 2012, the Putfontein Plumber has terrorised families across the East Rand towns of Daveyton, Crystal Park, Etwatwa and Putfontein.
He is sought for 55 rapes, 40 of them of schoolgirls. His youngest victim was 12, his eldest 44. His last attack, according to police and community sources, was in November.
Three of his attacks were thwarted. The Putfontein Plumber was quick to exploit the situation when the Ekurhuleni municipality began solar geyser upgrades in the area, and masqueraded as a council plumber donning municipal worker’s clothing.
Police sources close to the investigation said he had attacked 14 women and girls in their homes, where he knocked on the front door and asked to be allowed in to inspect the plumbing systems. Once inside he overpowered his victims, raped them and fled.
The attacks that have occurred outside victims’ homes have been along the railway line that runs between Johannesburg and Daveyton, said community leaders. Most of these were schoolgirls.
A police source said 49 of the rapes had been linked through DNA, while nine, including the three thwarted attacks, had been linked through the rapist’s modus operandi.
“This man . . . is becoming more violent and more brazen. He does not hide his identity and attacks in broad daylight,” said the source.
“Some of his attacks have occurred while there have been multiple people at home. In at least two cases, the man convinced the victim’s family members to accompany him to a supposed temporary municipal office to sign documents for the geyser installation.
“Halfway there, the ‘charming’ man tells the person with him that he has to go back to collect a neighbour . . . He tells those with him to continue to the municipal office, then rushes back and rapes his victims.”
Mutandare said the communities were terrified.
“No one knows what to do. Pamphlets of the monster’s face are all over. Police have come to the clinics, the schools, shops and taxi ranks, showing people what he looks like, pleading for information, but nobody knows or has seen him. It’s as though he is a ghost and just vanishes after he has committed a crime.”
She said parents had stopped their children from playing in the street when they were not at home.
“It’s a crazy situation. Mothers, grannies and those who are unemployed have started street patrol groups and escort children to and from school.
“We are petrified. No one knows what to do. We can’t understand why the police cannot catch him. We know they have a special team, but still he is on the loose.”
A police source said one of the biggest problems had been in the initial collection of evidence.
“You have 14 houses where he raped his victims, yet fingerprints were collected from only one of these houses. Another problem is that the task team was only set up in July last year. Why?”
Another police source said it was now a case of waiting for “another rape. In the meantime, we are swabbing every arrested person brought into our police stations in the area to see if the rapist may have been arrested for another offence.”
Ekurhuleni police station cluster spokesman Mack Mngomezulu said officers from the family violence, child protection and sexual offences unit were working around the clock in their search for the suspect.