Two hardened criminals received a combined 20 life sentences, amounting to 400 years of imprisonment, by the Thohoyandou High Court on Friday, 10 March. Nyandano Mudalahothe (29) and Peter Mugovha (33) were found guilty on numerous counts of rape, robbery with aggravating circumstances, kidnapping, assault GBH, common assault and housebreaking.
The incidents took place around the Thohoyandou policing precinct over several years. The armed thugs broke into houses and brutally assaulted their victims before raping and robbing them of their belongings. Altogether 26 women, aged between 12 and 30, had been raped during their reign of terror, which began in 2011.
Mudalahothe received three life terms, while Mugovha was sentenced to 17 life terms.
Among this string of crimes was the brutal and shocking indent in 2015, where the two men, armed with firearms, broke into a house one night and dragged two sisters (aged 4 and 14) from their bedroom to their parents' room, who were sleeping with their six-month-old sibling. The accused brutally assaulted the couple and afterwards forced the husband to have sex with his wife in front of their children. The merciless criminals then took turns raping the 14-year-old child in the presence of her family before they robbed the victims of their cellphones and cash.
Sterling detective work paid off when the duo was finally arrested in 2016. The accused have made several court appearances since then and were denied bail until they were ultimately convicted and given multiple life sentences.
Gender activist Ms Riri Sengani, of Rinae Sengani Foundation, hailed the sentence, saying it would go a long way in restoring the people's trust on the justice system. "As a foundation, we are excited, and we hope that other courts follow suit to make sure perpetrators never see the outside life. Saying that, however, we are pleading with the NPA to speed up cases like these, so that the victims can find closure and move on with their lives," she said.
Limpopo's police commissioner General Thembi Hadebe described the long sentences as an achievement for the province as two hardened criminals had been removed from society.