Pretoria - Activists are calling for lengthy jail terms when the High Court sitting in Palm Ridge sentences Nkosinathi Emmanuel Phakathi, who has pleaded guilty to 148 charges, which include rape, targeting dozens of women and children, committed during a nine-year reign of terror in Ekurhuleni.
Phakathi, 32, pleaded guilty to the charges, which include rape, theft, sexual assault, and compelling minors to witness and engage in a sexual offence.
Acting Judge Lesego Makolomakwe has reserved judgment until November 8.
Civil rights group #NotInMyName said it was disappointing Phakathi’s confession of the crimes comes just at the end of the second Presidential Summit on Gender-Based Violence and Femicide addressed by President Cyril Ramaphosa.
“The sentence must be as harsh as possible for this animal. The courts must lock him up and throw away the key. We have just concluded the Gender-Based Violence and Femicide summit, and the president was sounding very performative. He was saying all the right things, but what is needed now is action on the ground,” secretary general of #NotInMyName Themba Masango told IOL.
“Very harsh sentences need to be given out so that would-be perpetrators can be afraid. They need to be deterred from committing these heinous crimes.”
In March, the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) successfully opposed Phakathi’s bail application.
At the time, the NPA spokesperson in Gauteng, Lumka Mahanjana, said the crimes were committed between 2012 and March 2021.
Phakathi sought bail before the Daveyton Magistrate’s Court.
“All the alleged offences were against females aged between 14 to 44 years old. Phakathi was arrested on 17 March 2021 after he attempted to go back to one of his victim’s homes,” said Mahanjana.
Phakathi had begged to be released on bail, citing ill health.
Prosecutor Refiloe Neluonde told the court it was not in the best interest of justice to release Phakathi on bail as the State had a strong case against him.
Neluonde said there was evidence linking Phakathi to the numerous crimes.
She told the court that, should Phakathi be sentenced, he faced prospects of multiple life terms in jail and, therefore, was a flight risk.
With regards to Phakathi’s ill health, Neluonde told the court the inmate was receiving the necessary medical attention, and there was evidence to prove that.
The court denied Phakathi bail and transferred his matter to the high court.
In January, the High Court in Pretoria sentenced Takalani Mulaudzi, from Tshafhasi in Nzhelele, Limpopo, to 173 years imprisonment for rape, robbery with aggravating circumstances, kidnapping and grievous bodily harm.
This came after Mulaudzi was convicted of 15 counts of rape, five counts of robbery with aggravating circumstances, three counts of kidnapping and one count of grievous body harm.
The court heard that Mulaudzi started committing these offences in 2015 in and around Pretoria West when he was 23.
IOL
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