The Butterworth Regional Court has sentenced a 55-year-old man to life imprisonment for rape.
Sindile Somdaka, a taxi driver was also handed down a sentence of three years for kidnapping and 12 months for assault with the intent to cause grievous bodily harm. The latter sentences will run concurrently with the life sentence.
National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) spokesperson, Luxolo Tyali said that on the morning of May 17, 2019, the woman (19) was hitch hiking from Butterworth to her home village in Mgomanzi, Butterworth when vehicle driven by Somdaka stopped and blocked her from the view of passers-by.
“One of the occupants covered her with a cloth and she became dizzy. When she regained consciousness, she was naked and chained to a steel bed,” Tyali said.
“The victim was repeatedly raped by a group of men for three days, after which Somdaka instructed that she be taken to a forest and shot dead.”
Tyali added that the naked victim managed to escape from the back of the bakkie.
“Her rescuers took her to the police station and she managed to take investigators to a homestead where she had been kept in Mission location. It was established that the homestead belonged to Somdaka. He was arrested at the taxi rank.”
Tyali further added that during the trial Somdaka claimed to have been in a romantic relationship with the victim. Under cross examination by state Advocate Kholelwa Siqongana Somdaka could not explain the injuries inflicted on the victim, contradicted himself and refused to reveal the identities of his accomplices.
Magistrate Veliswa Sityata agreed with Siqongana that Gender Based Violence (GBV) is rife and invites the harshest sentence of life imprisonment.
