Policewoman recalls long, hard fight to secure evidence against serial rapist

A policewoman who secured five life sentences against a serial rapist who laced his victims’ dagga joints with hard drugs before sexually assaulting them said the case was very difficult to crack.

“There was no DNA linking him to his crimes,” said Free State police officer Sgt Bessie Nthoba.

In addition, at one point during the case, some of the victims said they were unwilling to give evidence, saying the police and the rapist’s lawyer were judging them as dagga users.

However, Nthoba’s decision to look for other dagga smokers who used to hang around Anthony Trevor Watson’s house in Bloemfontein helped her win the case because their testimonies, together with those of other victims, sunk Watson in the end.

The Bloemfontein regional court convicted Watson on five rape charges in 2023 and sentenced him on March 24 to five life terms. 

Nthoba said that deciding to put the dagga smokers in the witness box was difficult, but they were her last resort because no DNA directly linked Watson to the rapes. However, she knew that their testimonies would strengthen her case.

“It was hard to win the court’s sympathy, just as it was difficult to convince the witnesses to be off dagga and look presentable on their court dates.

“The judge, the prosecutor and the lawyer had a negative view of these witnesses already because it was a matter of ‘how can we trust people who are always high?’

“However, they stuck to the same story of how Watson would bring them to his house and later kick them out only to remain with one of them,” said Nthoba.

Watson was out on parole for rape when he committed the five rapes. He was handed a life sentence for rape in 2006 and released on parole 10 years later.

In 2019, Watson met a 14-year-old girl, took her to his place, laced her dagga joint with other drugs and then raped her. She opened a case against him, but it was withdrawn due to lack of evidence.

In 2023, he raped a 31-year-old woman, who had asked him for a cigarette at his house, and also raped a 46-year-old woman after drugging her.

The last woman he drugged and raped was a 30-year-old from Welkom who had gone to Bloemfontein to look for a job. He raped her after offering her a place to stay. 

According to Nthoba, the woman had a bath the following morning, then went straight to the police station to report the rape.

She said that after giving her statement,  the woman, who was estranged from her family, left as she thought no-one believed her and started living on the streets. .

Nthoba, a member of the Mangaung family violence, child protection and sexual offences unit, was handed the docket in 2023. She had to start by finding the victims. The first three were easy to trace, but finding the last homeless victim was a challenge.

Nthoba would go where dagga smokers hung out and ask after the woman’s whereabouts. She found her five months later.

" I had to beg to make her understand why the case had to be solved,” she said.

The trial got under way after the victims were given counselling.

“During the trial, I had to ask them to remain sober so that the defence would not use their addiction to kill the case,” Nthoba said.

“The case depended on them being sober so that they could withstand the hard questions from [Watson’s] lawyer. I was proud that they narrated what happened to them. They did not shed a tear or shiver while on the stand.

“I was proud of the ladies for overcoming the limitations of their condition and the prejudices that dagga users face, more so as women. I had to remind them they had been violated and must find justice.”

When Nthoba called the victims with the news that their rapist had been sentenced, they were overjoyed and thankful.

“They said that it if had not been for me, they would have abandoned their cases and lived with the gaping wound of being rape victims. So, because I convinced them to go ahead with the case, they chose to fight.”

SowetanLIVE