Serial rapist faces full legal consequences

Thanks to skillful investigative work by the KwaZulu-Natal Provincial Family Violence, Child Protection and Sexual Offences Unit, Bhekithemba Fanozi Nxumalo’s series of rapes was ended and the 42-year-old rapist was sentenced to life imprisonment.

Previously, the Mtubatuba High Court sentenced Nxumalo to 12 life terms and an additional 75 years in prison after finding him guilty in a series of rape cases. The verdict was announced on 10 June 2024.

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Provincial police spokesman Colonel Robert Netshiunda said: “Nxumalo’s reign of terror began in July 2012 when he broke into a house in the Mdungandlovu reserve around midnight and found an elderly woman sleeping with her two granddaughters. Nxumalo demanded money from the grandmother at knifepoint and when he could not find any, he raped her 24-year-old granddaughter.”

The grandmother and a younger granddaughter were rescued by the same 24-year-old, who was able to call back her brother, who came to their aid. Nxumalo managed to escape into the darkness.

“From then on, Nxumalo continued his rape spree, targeting young women who were walking alone. He would drag them into the bushes and sugar cane fields and threaten them with a knife before raping them. In most cases, the convicted sex offender raped his victims more than once. His ten-year rape spree came to an abrupt end when police cornered and arrested him in April 2021. Nxumalo’s appeal was rejected and he was also declared unfit to possess a firearm,” he added.

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In other cases, the Empangeni FCS unit secured a life sentence for a 59-year-old man found guilty of raping his eight-year-old stepdaughter. The Esikhaleni Regional Court heard that the stepfather had raped the little girl several times when her mother was not around.

The Esikhaleni Regional Court also sentenced a 58-year-old man to life imprisonment after he was found guilty in a rape case in which he raped his 12-year-old granddaughter in Madlankala area of ​​Esikhaleni in February 2024. The Empangeni Regional Court also imposed a 25-year prison sentence on a 25-year-old man who was found guilty of assaulting and raping his 22-year-old girlfriend. The victim had to be hospitalized after attempting suicide following the rape.