Duo face 43 rape counts

The modus operandi of two rape accused allegedly involved offering women lifts, attacking them and then taking turns to rape them.

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Pretoria - In an unusual criminal case, two suspected rapists appeared in the Pretoria North Magistrate’s Court in connection with 43 charges of rape.

Of their alleged victims, 20 were from Pretoria and 13 from Brits, while 10 more crimes were committed between the two towns.

The suspects were appearing for bail in connection with 27 of the cases, as some were still under investigation in Pretoria North and Brits, according to the police.

The victims, as well as their families and friends, protested outside the court, calling for the bail application to be turned down.

The women have created a social media group to keep in touch and recount their ordeals allegedly at the hands of the two men, aged 37 and 40.

The Pretoria News understands that the men’s modus operandi involved offering their would-be victims lifts, then attacking them along the way, with both allegedly taking turns to rape their victims.

It appears women who knocked off late were targeted and often approached and offered transport.

A source close to the investigation told the Pretoria News that more than 25 of the women from Pretoria had been offered lifts home but were then raped while their attackers often asked them crude questions, including if they had enjoyed themselves.

During his testimony, investigating officer Sergeant Freddy Maile said all the women seemed to have been kidnapped and raped when hitchhiking after they had finished work late at night.

“Cellphone tracking helped us to locate the suspects, and after an identity parade of the men and their vehicle, we eventually arrested and charged them.

“They were positively identified by the victims,” he told the court.

Both men appeared in court covering their faces with their shirts and got agitated when they were being photographed.

A girlfriend of one of them, who is pregnant, approached Pretoria News photographer Oupa Mokoena outside the court, and shouted at him: “What were you doing (taking pictures)? Don’t you have a proper job to do?”

However, she was heckled by the victims and their families, who shouted back: “Haai sugar; we are sure the child you are carrying is a product of rape.”

The bail application was postponed to March 1.

One of the alleged victims said in a social media posting that her attacker kept asking her when last did she have sex with her boyfriend, and if he was better than him.

“When he was done, he left me and went to the car. I stood there helplessly as he and his accomplice took turns raping my colleague inside their car. When they finished, they gave us R10 each and left us there.”

Another victim said she worked in Pretoria North and was walking with a colleague to Rosslyn after knocking off at 9pm last November.

That was when two men driving a silver Honda offered them a lift.

When they told the men they were heading to Mabopane, they had responded they were unfortunately not heading in that direction and drove off.

“But they came back a few minutes later and said they would take us to Mabopane if we paid them R50 each, to which we agreed.

“After some time, we noticed we were heading in the wrong direction.

“When we questioned this, they swore at us and demanded our handbags,” she said in post.

“The instructed us to bow our heads.

“And after a short drive, we arrived in a remote area where they said we both should get out of the car.

“One of them took out a white sheet and laid it on the ground, pulled me down and raped me.”

goitsemang.tlhabye@inl.co.za

Pretoria News