Alleged serial rapists see the funny side

Trio unfazed as they appear in court on separate charges

DESPITE allegations that they had ruined the lives of 18 women between them, three suspected serial rapists looked blasé about the charges against them after their separate cases were allocated to the same courtroom yesterday.

For years, the three men allegedly shared a similar modus operandi, kidnapping women, taking them to secluded spots and raping them.

Of particular note was Alfred Motsamai, who, even after his first rape conviction, evaded police for six years. He was convicted in 2008 for the rape of his ex-girlfriend outside her Roodepoort home the year before, having been released on bail during his trial.

In 2009, he was sentenced to an effective 10 years’ imprisonment, but was granted leave to appeal against his sentence and conviction.

The magistrate granted Motsamai bail pending his appeal, but when the appeal was set down in the high court in Joburg in 2010, it was dismissed and a warrant was issued for his arrest.

When the police went to his home, he had vanished.

For the next six years, police hunted for Motsamai as he allegedly began a raping spree.

According to the indictment served against him in March, shortly after his arrest, investigators believe that between 2011 and 2013, he raped five other women across Ekurhuleni.

According to an investigator working on the case, police believe there are other victims.

Motsamai’s case was brought to the high court sitting in Palm Ridge yesterday, and postponed for his trial to begin on April 17 next year.

Seated next to him was self-confessed serial rapist Penuel Ncongwane, who raped seven women between 2009 and 2013. Five of the incidents took place in Zonk’iZizwe, Ekurhuleni.

While having originally pleaded guilty, before he was sentenced, he claimed mental illness, requiring the court to send him for mental observation at Sterkfontein Psychiatric Hospital.

Yesterday, it was revealed he was only number 63 on the wait- ing list for a bed at the facility, meaning his case was postponed to November 21.

Katlego Mabote has been charged with 17 counts, including eight of rape, after travelling in and around Moroka, Soweto, between 2008 and 2014 and allegedly kidnapping and sexually assaulting five women.

Because he allegedly beaten four of the women severely, he has been charged with three counts of assault with intent to grievous bodily harm and another of attempted murder.

Yesterday, Mabote’s lawyer David Marais asked to withdraw from the matter, which the court allowed, and a postponement was granted to April 17 to allow a new legal aid lawyer to familiarise him or herself with the case.

As the three men awaited their court proceedings yesterday, they were spotted calmly chatting with one another and later with some of their relatives and friends.

One of the complainants who attended proceedings went unnoticed by the seemingly unperturbed trio, who occasionally laughed and joked with one another about the proceedings.