By Kaya 959 News
A man, convicted for the rapes of 10 women in and around Gauteng, has been sentenced to 223 years imprisonment.
Thokozani Jiyane, also known as the ‘Facebook rapist’, was sentenced after being found guilty of 17 counts of rape.
He was also found guilty of 10 counts of robberies with aggravating circumstances, two counts of kidnapping and assault GBH, and three counts of fraud.
The offences were committed between December 2019 – February 2020.
“Jiyane started his reign of terror in Reigerpark, Boksburg and became known as the Facebook rapist in December 2019. He lured his victims on Facebook after pretending to be in the filming industry and offering jobs to unsuspecting women.
“He promised his victims work in the industry while others he promised them to promote his clothing label,” police spokesperson Colonel Noxolo Kweza said.
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Women ambushed
Kweza said once the women agreed, he would ask for their photographs and arrange to meet them.
“The women would travel to Boksburg where Jiyane would ambush them, take them to a secluded area where he would strangle them before raping and robbing them,” she said.
She said he also forced some of them to have oral sex with him. Jiyane’s victims came as far as Middleburg, Hammanskraal, KwaMhlanga, Soweto, Vosloorus and Westonaria.
Kweza said the modus operandi in all the cases was the same and Jiyane was positively identified by six of the victims during an identity parade.
Captain SM Manaka of the FCS unit in Brakpan arrested Jiyane at an informal settlement in Boksburg last year.
Initially, Jiyane was charged with three cases and the remainder were added later.
Kweza said Jiyane was previously arrested in Delmas, Mpumalanga in October 2019, however his case was not placed on the court roll. The prosecutor then indicated that he was not properly linked to the offence and was later released. Jiyane took the first taxi out of Delmas and escaped to Boksburg, Gauteng where he continued to lure women and rape and rob them.
“Despite struggles with forensics on the cases, Manaka relied mostly on the Cyber unit retrieving most information from Facebook postings that took place between Jiyane and his victims. And this assisted his investigations and ensured that he received the outstanding sentence of and life sentences,” she said.
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