On Wednesday, 2 November, the Thohoyandou High Court sentenced a 42-year-old serial rapist to four life sentences and 135 years' imprisonment. The charges against him involved the rape of four young women aged between 15 and 22 years around the Vuwani policing area between 2012 and 2015 respectively.
Ndidzulafhi Given Vhuromu was 32 years old when his reign of terror started on 10 February 2012. He then raped a 22-year-old woman who was walking with her boyfriend to his house in Vyeboom village. Armed with a knife, Vhuromu chased the boyfriend away and dragged the woman into nearby bushes at Vyeboom, where he repeatedly raped her. A rape case was opened at Vuwani that same day and Vhuromu, who was known in that area, eluded the police, who were trying to track him down.
The second rape occurred only a week later, on 17 February 2012, when he raped a 17-year-old girl who was with a friend around Tshimbupfe. Once again, he showed his knife to threaten the girl. He demanded that she give him her cellphone, after which she too was dragged into the bushes at Tshivhulani and raped.
Vhuromu's raping spree continued when, on 20 December 2013, a 15-year-old girl was reportedly raped next to the Vuwani shopping complex. She was also robbed of R100.
His last victim was assaulted in 2015. The 20-year-old woman was walking along the bushes at Vuwani with her boyfriend when Vhuromu surprised them and threatened the boyfriend with a broken bottle. The boyfriend ran away, leaving the woman at the mercy of her assailant.
These cases were investigated by Detective Sergeant Mulalo Muanalo of the Family Violence and Child Protection Services Unit (FCS) at Vhembe District, who worked tirelessly in searching for Vhuromu, until he was arrested in the Polokwane area in 2019 and positively linked to all the cases through buccal samples.
Vhembe District Police Commissioner Major General Eddie Van Der Walt welcomed the sentence and said it served as a serious warning to other rapists and criminals.