Hefty sentence for ANC ward councillor

Sipho Maselane gets life and 58 years for rapes, robberies.

Tshwane ANC ward councillor Emmanuel Sipho Maselane was handed a life sentence and an additional 58 years in jail after he was convicted of several counts of rape and robbery yesterday.

Maselane, the Ward 9 councillor, appeared before the Ga-Rankuwa Magistrate’s Court yesterday where he was sentenced for robbing and raping four women in Winterveldt in 2014 and 2015.

Asked what he thought his sentence should be, the councillor confidently told Magistrate Dan Mogotsi that he deserved only five months in jail.

Instead, he was handed five years for each of the four counts of robbery with aggravated circumstances – as he robbed his rape victims – 10 years each for two counts of rape and 18 years for another rape charge.

For his fourth rape charge, he was sentenced to life imprisonment as he contacted a friend to join him in raping and robbing his victim.

Despite evidence pointing to his involvement, including an accurate description of his genital warts, and one of the victims’ shoes being left behind in his car, Maselane pleaded not guilty and maintained his innocence.

His defence, however, changed their argument yesterday when they begged the magistrate for mercy, stating that the councillor had been under the influence of alcohol at the time of the crimes.

However, Mogotsi said throughout the trial that Maselane showed no remorse for his actions.

“It is surprising that you want mercy. While you were raping these women, you showed no mercy. You held them at gunpoint and made them suck your penis, raped them and robbed them,” said Mogotsi.

The convicted rapist used a white Toyota Corolla to offer ladies lifts in the Winterveldt area, only to rob them of their belongings and force them to perform oral sex on him before raping them.