Sello Maponya: Serial rapist sentenced to nearly 1000 years in prison

Sello Abram Maponya, a serial rapist whose reign of terror lasted for five years between 2014 and 2019, was sentenced to 988 years and five life terms imprisonment on Thursday, 27 May.

The Gauteng High Court found Maponya guilty of at least 41 counts of rape this week. He was initially charged with 101 crimes including housebreaking and robbery.

Maponya operated in areas of Pretoria such as Atteridgeville, Silverton, Mamelodi and Olievenhoutbosch, armed with a knife, screwdriver or firearm. He raped many of his victims in front of their families.

SERIAL RAPIST, MAPONYA, RECEIVES A HEFTY SENTENCE

The sentenced handed to Maponya is one of the heftiest jail terms South Africa has ever seen. The Gauteng High Court said the sentences would not run concurrently.

The serial rapist was sentenced to 988 years and five life sentences by Judge Papi Mosapa. “He was convicted for rape robbery with aggravating circumstances, house breaking and assault for offences he committed around Pretoria from 2014 to 2019,” said the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA).

The court also ordered that Maponya’s name be added to the National Register for Sexual Offenders. Masopa said he wanted to send a strong message to other would-be perpetrators with the sentence.

The youngest of Masopa’s victims was aged 14 when he attacked her in Olievenhoutbosch – three of the life terms handed to the rapist were for the rape of the teenager and three other women whom he raped multiple times, according to TimesLive.

Each of the other rapes he committed carried a sentence of 15 years each, while he also received 15 years’ imprisonment for every count of housebreaking with the intent to rob and robbery and each count of housebreaking with the intent to steal also carried 15 years.

Maponya was eventually arrested in 2019 after police tracked down a cellphone he stole from one of his victims. DNA evidence was used to link him to the heinous crimes he committed.

“These heinous crimes occurred in the sanctity of people’s homes,” said Judge Masopa. “Your client violated not just the victims but their husbands and children, who were forced to watch and endure the pain of their mothers and wives being raped.”