Taxi driver to learn fate in rape trial

Man to be sentenced in hostage case

AMINIBUS taxi driver who abducted and held two Nelson Mandela University students hostage for 12 hours before raping them, is due to be sentenced in the Port Elizabeth High Court today.

The two students, aged 19 and 20, were from Limpopo and living in residence on campus when the taxi driver abducted and raped them in October last year.

Kwanele Nogodama, 28, of Kwazakhele, was arrested shortly after police circulated an identity kit.

He was found guilty in the Port Elizabeth High Court on Friday on two counts of kidnapping and rape as well as one count of robbery and pointing of a firearm.

The case was postponed until today when sentence is expected to be handed down.

Nogodama was caught when family violence, child protection and sexual offences unit detectives received a tip-off that he was travelling as a passenger in a taxi a few days later.

Police pulled the taxi off the road in New Brighton and arrested him.

The two students were abducted and raped after they had climbed into the taxi outside the university’s south campus and asked to be dropped off at a friend’s home in Central.

Nogodama then held them at gunpoint before taking them to New Brighton where they were raped and then held hostage in a house.

They were released at 6am the next day and managed to get help at a nearby shopping centre before reporting the crime to the police station.

Police spokeswoman Colonel Priscilla Naidu said a thorough investigation ensured a watertight case.

“This is an example of team work between the investigators and the National Prosecuting Authority,” she said.

“Detectives and the state prosecutor worked hand in hand to attain all the facts and evidence. This built a solid case.”

Deputy director of public prosecutions Advocate Indra Goberdan said the state prosecutor had worked tirelessly to ensure justice was served.

“Both these victims took a taxi during the Fees Must Fall protests as many of the cafeterias on campus were closed during that period,” she said.

“The National Prosecuting Authority welcomes the conviction and this is proof that justice has been done.”

Goberdan said this should send a message to rape victims to step forward. “We hope we can continue to restore the faith of the community in the justice system.”