Courtroom packed as people await verdict on Ekurhuleni serial rapist Phakathi

Dozens of people dressed in political party regalia and community activists sat inside the courtroom in the Palm Ridge magistrate’s court in Ekurhuleni ahead of judgment in the trial of serial rapist Nkosinathi Emmanuel Phakathi.

None of Phakathi’s victims were present in court. Sowetan saw Phakathi’s cousin Joel Msiza, 62, seated in the courtroom with his face buried in his hands.

Acting judge Lesego Makolomakwe was set to deliver judgment early on Tuesday, but it had not been delivered by 12pm.

Phakathi, 38, is facing 148 charges of rape, sexual assault, kidnapping, robbery with aggravating circumstances, theft and possession of an unlicensed firearm.

He pleaded guilty to all charges last week.

He was initially facing 203 charges, but National Prosecuting Authority spokesperson Lumka Mahanjana said the state dropped 55 charges against him, taking the count to 148. 

Prosecutor Salome Scheepers said Phakathi was linked to at least 93 rape cases.

Sharol Dhlamini, an activist from Community Safety Gender-Based Violence Brigade, said: “He should be found guilty for the trauma he put those women and children through. The magnitude of the pain he caused those victims is unbearable.’’

Msiza said he was devastated and disappointed by Phakathi’s reign of terror.

''What he did is terrible. He ruined our family’s name. He should be found guilty and sent to jail forever,’’ said Msiza.

Phakathi terrorised women in Ekurhuleni for nine years. He was arrested at Barcelona section in Etwatwa. His alleged rape spree dates back to 2012.

Phakathi, from Daveyton, has been in a prison hospital since his arrest in March last year after he was shot in the leg as he fled from the police officers who had come to arrest him.

The leg has since been amputated. He has been kept at a prison hospital at Modderbee Correctional Services Centre in Benoni.

kokam@sowetan.co.za