“I reject the accused’s version as false beyond reasonable doubt.”
This is how judge Cassim Moosa convicted murderer and rapist Sifiso Mkhwanazi in the Gauteng High Court sitting in Palm Ridge yesterday.
Mkhwanazi, 21 years old at the time, raped and killed six women he had picked up for sex work over a period of at least six months in 2022.
While he claimed he was coerced to confess to the murders, evidence showed that he was a predator, prowling the streets of Johannesburg, looking for sex workers he could subjugate, rape and kill.
In his judgment, Moosa found "the accused did unlawfully and intentionally defeat and obstruct the course of justice by concealing the bodies of the deceased, and which acts defeated and/or obstructed the administration of justice".
His conviction yesterday was significant and the first step to bringing justice to a community of people who are often unseen and perceived as socially insignificant because of the work they do.
There is no doubt that Mkhwanazi’s selection of victim profile was precisely because he believed it would minimise his chances of getting caught. No one would look for them, he must have believed as he hid their bodies in his father’s panel beating business, one after the other.
Sex workers in SA, and elsewhere in the world, are some of the most vulnerable people to sexual predators with a desire to kill. Those who fall victim to intimidation, violence and even death often do not get justice because law enforcement systems across the world are sometimes complicit to the abuse of the rights of sex workers.
Furthermore, our society adopts a posture that is prejudicial on religious or so-called moral ground, showing little public empathy to the plight of sex workers. Therefore, the conviction of Mkhwanazi, just over a year after his crimes were discovered, is most welcome.
The pace at which the case was managed through our criminal justice system affirms the notion that justice must be administered as speedily and effectively as possible. This case is not only about Mkhwanazi’s evil deeds, which must be met with the harshest possible sentence.
It is about affirming the humanity of his victims and asserting the rule of law to protect the most vulnerable in our society.
SOWETAN | Give killer rapist harshpunishment
Image: Veli Nhlapo
“I reject the accused’s version as false beyond reasonable doubt.”
This is how judge Cassim Moosa convicted murderer and rapist Sifiso Mkhwanazi in the Gauteng High Court sitting in Palm Ridge yesterday.
Mkhwanazi, 21 years old at the time, raped and killed six women he had picked up for sex work over a period of at least six months in 2022.
While he claimed he was coerced to confess to the murders, evidence showed that he was a predator, prowling the streets of Johannesburg, looking for sex workers he could subjugate, rape and kill.
In his judgment, Moosa found "the accused did unlawfully and intentionally defeat and obstruct the course of justice by concealing the bodies of the deceased, and which acts defeated and/or obstructed the administration of justice".
His conviction yesterday was significant and the first step to bringing justice to a community of people who are often unseen and perceived as socially insignificant because of the work they do.
There is no doubt that Mkhwanazi’s selection of victim profile was precisely because he believed it would minimise his chances of getting caught. No one would look for them, he must have believed as he hid their bodies in his father’s panel beating business, one after the other.
Sex workers in SA, and elsewhere in the world, are some of the most vulnerable people to sexual predators with a desire to kill. Those who fall victim to intimidation, violence and even death often do not get justice because law enforcement systems across the world are sometimes complicit to the abuse of the rights of sex workers.
Furthermore, our society adopts a posture that is prejudicial on religious or so-called moral ground, showing little public empathy to the plight of sex workers. Therefore, the conviction of Mkhwanazi, just over a year after his crimes were discovered, is most welcome.
The pace at which the case was managed through our criminal justice system affirms the notion that justice must be administered as speedily and effectively as possible. This case is not only about Mkhwanazi’s evil deeds, which must be met with the harshest possible sentence.
It is about affirming the humanity of his victims and asserting the rule of law to protect the most vulnerable in our society.
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