Questions arise about his guilt - So Appeal Court orders his release from jail
The Supreme Court of Appeal on Thursday upheld the appeal by a prominent Ulundi taxi operator against a life imprisonment sentence imposed for a rape conviction.
The SCA ordered on March 3 that Mbangiseni Mpungose, who had been held since 2004, be released from prison, but gave its reasons for the decision on Thursday.
The KwaZulu-Natal High Court found Mpungose guilty of raping of a 15-year-old girl and sentenced him to life imprisonment.
However, the girl, her mother and another family member were shot dead a month before the rape trial started.
The State alleged during the trial that Mpungose had them murdered when his mediators’ attempts to convince the family to withdraw the charges failed.
On Thursday the SCA found that the State had no eyewitness in the case as the girl was shot dead at her home with her mother and a relative before the trial.
In securing Mpungose’s conviction, the State had relied mainly on two statements given to the police shortly after the rape.
In these, the girl described her rapist and the vehicle he drove.
The SCA found that the trial court was wrong in accepting the evidence of the alleged mediators, which was found to be improbable and the hearsay statements of the girl, which were found to be unreliable.
In the statements the girl described her attacker as a man with a light complexion and “izingcabo” or traditional marks on his face. The court said it was common cause that Mpungose was dark in complexion and had no such marks on his face.
Taxi boss 'child rapist' let off
Questions arise about his guilt - So Appeal Court orders his release from jail
The Supreme Court of Appeal on Thursday upheld the appeal by a prominent Ulundi taxi operator against a life imprisonment sentence imposed for a rape conviction.
The SCA ordered on March 3 that Mbangiseni Mpungose, who had been held since 2004, be released from prison, but gave its reasons for the decision on Thursday.
The KwaZulu-Natal High Court found Mpungose guilty of raping of a 15-year-old girl and sentenced him to life imprisonment.
However, the girl, her mother and another family member were shot dead a month before the rape trial started.
The State alleged during the trial that Mpungose had them murdered when his mediators’ attempts to convince the family to withdraw the charges failed.
On Thursday the SCA found that the State had no eyewitness in the case as the girl was shot dead at her home with her mother and a relative before the trial.
In securing Mpungose’s conviction, the State had relied mainly on two statements given to the police shortly after the rape.
In these, the girl described her rapist and the vehicle he drove.
The SCA found that the trial court was wrong in accepting the evidence of the alleged mediators, which was found to be improbable and the hearsay statements of the girl, which were found to be unreliable.
In the statements the girl described her attacker as a man with a light complexion and “izingcabo” or traditional marks on his face. The court said it was common cause that Mpungose was dark in complexion and had no such marks on his face.
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