Serial rapist told: You do not represent us as men
A judge pulled no punches as he handed down 12 life terms to John Gcinumuzi Mhlambi for kidnapping and raping 11 boys.
|||Johannesburg - Convicted serial rapist John Gcinumuzi Mhlambi abused his power as a man, luring, manipulating and kidnapping 11 vulnerable boys, only to overpower, physically threaten and rape them.
Judge Reginald Dama pulled no punches as he gave a scathing assessment of the kind of man Mhlambi, 31, was while handing down his prison sentence in the Vereeniging Circuit Court on Tuesday.
“It is clear from the probation officer’s report that you suffered from feelings of inadequacy, thereby seeking to gain a position of strength from these acts.
“The strength I refer to is not the tall, towering strength of a man... This is not strength of honour. That (the strength Mhlambi gained) was without humility... it was without love. It was a pathetic remnant of strength that a male enjoys,” Judge Dama stated.
Between 2011 and 2014, Mhlambi stalked boys between 10 and 15 years of age walking the streets of Sebokeng and neighbouring Vaal townships.
On Tuesday, the judge handed Mhlambi 12 life imprisonments for the charges of rape, a total of 12 years for four counts of sexual assault, a total of 75 years for five charges of robbery with aggravating circumstances, a total of six years for two counts of kidnapping, a total of eight years for forcing a child to witness the commission of a sexual offence and five years for pointing a firearm.
He will effectively serve one life sentence, with the other sentences running concurrently.
The judge said Mhlambi did not deserve to live among citizens in society, adding: “You do not represent us as men.”
Mhlambi, a father of eight children - two of them deceased - was unemployed when he was arrested at his Sebokeng home in July 2014 after one of his victims had identified him.
With Mhlambi's history of molesting teenage girls and boys in his teenage years, and a previous 2012 conviction of robbery of which he served an eight-month prison term, and his being a known dagga smoker, Judge Dama said he saw no hope of his being rehabilitated as it had failed before after he had committed acts of rape while on parole.
“In your evil deeds you were a master technician, using your wizardry of wisdom to lure children. You were very gifted in that regard so as to satisfy your sexual lust. You were cunning. The tactics you employed involved money, marbles and clothes. You abused their trust in you and they fell prey to your acts which in my view are abhorrent,” the judge continued.
In one case, Mhlambi raped a boy repeatedly in full view of his friends. “In my view, that is unthinkable,” Judge Dama commented.
Recalling the trial, the judge said: “I remember vividly, one of the boys looking at you through CCTV footage saying I am angry with this man, he has destroyed my life.
“While the injuries sustained in the boys’ anuses was relatively minor, the victims will suffer the psychological impact for the rest of their lives.”
He rejected Mhlambi’s claim of remorse, following his confession of the rapes to the probation officer, saying it was merely the “last kicks of a dying horse” and a “ploy to get a lenient sentence”, and that if he'd truly been sorry, he wouldn’t have subjected the boys to the secondary trauma of having to testify during the trial.
Judge Dama recalled a mother of one of the victims weeping in the witness stand because of the deep hurt he had put her child and family through.
“Your victims were terrified and vulnerable and you felt like a star, yet today you want to be treated with kid gloves. Not at all. You are not deserving of any kind of mercy. It’s time for you to go, you are going and you are a goner, goodbye Mr Mhlambi,” Judge Dama said emphatically as the gallery of parents and relatives of the boys applauded.
vuyo.mkize@inl.co.za
The Star