Accused claims sex was agreed
SHE was given R6 for taxi fare from her own wallet after he allegedly raped her near a graveyard.
This was what the Johannesburg High Court sitting in Palm Ridge heard yesterday from a former travel consultant in the trial of the man dubbed the “taxi rapist ”.
In 2010, Lawrence Mabunda, 38, a taxi driver stationed at the busy Noord taxi rank in the Johannesburg CBD, allegedly went on a five-month raping spree.
He would allegedly offer to transport the women but then lure them to an open field, where he would rape and rob them.
Mabunda faces 51 charges, including 22 counts of rape, 13 counts of kidnapping, 13 counts of robbery with aggravated assault, attempted murder and illegal possession of a firearm and ammunition. He pleaded not guilty to the charges.
Yesterday, the woman testified that Mabunda offered to help her look for a place to stay but, after taking her to his house, he took her to a field next to a cemetery.
There he repeatedly raped her, robbed her and gave her R6 from her wallet for taxi fare. But Mabunda denied raping her and said she was a sex worker with whom he had consensual sex.
“If I consented to having sex with him I would have done so in his house. How can I consent to having sex in the graveyard?” the woman said. She was the sixth woman to give a similar account of their ordeal.
State prosecutor Shubnum Singh said police records showed each witness identified Mabunda within “seconds ” during an identity parade in 2013.
Mabunda has denied ever meeting or raping other complainants, despite the state linking his DNA with each of the witnesses.
Only six of the 14 victims have testified as the other women are either deceased or untraceable but their statements will be presented to the court.
The trial continues.