A serial rapist who terrorised women in and around Kempton Park in the East Rand was today slapped with 12 life sentences plus an additional 231 years imprisonment in the South Gauteng high court sitting in Palmridge Magistrate's court.

Tshililo Nembaleni, 33, of Lekaneng Section in Tembisa raped and robbed 16 women between July 2014 and January 2017.

Nembaleni lured women to bushes between Kaalfontein and Birchleigh train station by promising employment.

He sprayed pepper spray on victims who tried to resist and threatened others with a knife.

Nembaleni was sentenced to life imprisonment for each of 12 rapes, life imprisonment for attempted rape, 15 years for each of the 15 counts of robbery with aggravating circumstances, three years for compelling one of the victims to perform self sexual acts and three years for theft.

Judge Ian Cox said Nembaleni would have likely continued with the crimes had the police not arrested him in January last year.

"The victims described the accused as a nice person. He used this personality to convince the victims that he would help them. They were desperate for work to better their lives," he said.

Some of the victims were contacted by Nembaleni who claimed to be a manager, a few minutes after they dropped their job applications at Ekurhuleni municipality. He would the arrange to meet them in secluded areas.