A Mpumalanga woman who was raped by a man believed to be a serial rapist who terrorised villagers in Limpopo for nearly 12 years, says she is happy that she will finally get justice.
This after her alleged rapist was nabbed by police in Phalaborwa for rapes committed since 2008 in the Namakgale policing area.
Provincial police spokesperson Brig Motlafela Mojapelo said police arrested the man who cannot be named because he has not pleaded to the sexual crimes yet, and have linked him to at least 13 cases.
Mojapelo said the first rape case was traced back to 2008 and the last to four years ago.
The man, 27, was only 15 when he allegedly began breaking into women's houses and raping them. The victims were aged between 14 and 30 years.
Mojapelo said the man was put on a long-term remand after he appeared in the Namakgale magistrate's court several times and the matter was transferred to the Polokwane High Court. He is set to appear in the court on November 2.
The victim said she was finally going to put the horrific incident behind her, knowing that her rapist was behind bars.
“I had sleepless nights in the past six years because I had no closure. It was painful to keep wondering why and how this had to happen to me,” she said.
The woman, who cannot be named to protect her identity, said the man entered through a window at about 11pm while she was alone at the place she rented as a student in 2014.
“I had just prepared to go to bed after other students decided to go out for the night. All of a sudden a man was in my room. He stabbed me to silence me, raped me and robbed me of my belongings too,” she said.
“I had given up because the man was nowhere to be found. I lived with a scar of that terrible day and made peace with it through the support of my family,” said the woman.
“Now I'm really relieved that I can finally put a name and face to the dark shadow that violated me. I had to drop out of college and go back home because I was never the same after the attack,” she said.
Mojapelo said the man is facing 13 counts of rape, robbery and housebreaking.
