11 life sentences for North West serial rapist | News24

Serial rapist Johannes Ontsheketse Tshabile

• A serial rapist in the North West was handed 11 life sentences for rape.  
• At first he escaped from prison with the help of a police officer who has been fired and criminally charged. 
• The NPA lauded the work of the investigator, as well as the prosecutor, police, and support services for the survivors.

A serial rapist was put away for life by the Klerksdorp Regional Court, which found him guilty on all of the 65 counts that described the ordeal of his victims in the small town of Maquassi in the North West. 

The province’s National Prosecuting Authority spokesperson Henry Mamothame said Johannes Ontsheketse Tshabile would attack women on the streets, drag them into a veld, and them rob and rape them at knifepoint in the period between December 2013 and May 2018. 

Sometimes he would first attack the man they were walking with, then rape and rob the woman. 

“In some instances, he would strangle, stab with a knife, and assault with bricks and other objects before robbing and raping his victims,” Mamothame said. 

The survivors range from a 15-year-old girl to a 65-year-old woman. 

He was arrested in 2019, but escaped from the Wolmaransstad police station with the help of a police officer. 

He was prosecuted for charges ranging from rape and sexual assault, to assault and robbery with aggravating circumstances. 

READ | Man who raped girl, 7, and gave her a R10 note, sentenced to life imprisonment

The officer was fired and criminally charged, and his case is still pending in court. 

Prosecutor Riekie Krause stressed the ongoing emotional, physical, and psychological trauma suffered by the victims as she implored Judge Tebogo Djadje to send him away for life. 

Djadje found him to be a remorseless man who terrified the community for six years, and sentenced him to 11 life terms and a total of 363 years. 

In South Africa, these sentences usually run concurrently, with a life sentence carrying a 25-year stretch. 

Investigating officer Sergeant Pule Morake was praised for his work on the case, as was the Sexual Offences and Community Affairs unit for prioritising sexual offence cases and the Thuthuzela Care Centre for supporting the victims for the trial. 

According to evidence, at least one other accomplice was involved, but has not been identified yet.