The four men were handed hefty sentences. File Picture
Four men from Mpumalanga, who gang-raped three women and killed a man, have been sentenced in the Bethal Regional Court.
Sunday Sibiya, 26, Sibusiso Ncamu, 27, Jaja Luphoto, 20, and Phumlani Masoka, 20, were found guilty of murder, three counts of rape, attempted murder and robbery with aggravated circumstances.
During the sentencing proceedings, the court heard one of the raped women was six months pregnant at the time of the incident.
On Friday, June 17, 2022, the four men stormed into a house where the women were staying in, in Bethal.
They then attacked a man who was visiting his partner at the house at the time.
The man who then tried to escape from the house was then stabbed multiple times. He succumbed to his injuries. His lifeless body was found lying in a pool of blood next to a petrol station.
After dumping the body, the group went back to the house and took turns raping the women.
The matter was reported to police who immediately launched a manhunt in collaboration with a private security company.
Through intelligence, the four men were tracked and traced and it led to their arrest in Emzinoni near Bethal the day after their crimes were perpetrated.
Sibiya and Ncamu were sentenced to three life imprisonment each for three counts of rape, 15 years imprisonment each for murder, 15 years imprisonment each for robbery aggravated, and four years imprisonment each for attempted murder. The court sentenced Lephoto and Masoka to 20 years each for all the crimes committed.
The court believed that the two might have been influenced due to their ages during the time of the incident.
Acting Police Commissioner in Mpumalanga, Major General Zeph Mkwanazi commended the members who managed to bring the perpetrators to book.
robin.francke@iol.co.za
IOL