News / Regional
Rapist gang get 42 years behind bars
15 Apr 2016 at 06:50hrs | Views
TWO men who were members of a gang that raped and robbed a woman after threatening her with iron bars and machetes in Cowdray Park suburb were yesterday sentenced to a combined 42 years in jail.
This brings their prison terms to 64 years following their previous convictions.
Dumile Dungeni, 32, Mlungisi Khumalo, 34, and their accomplice who is on the run tied their victims with ropes and tore off the woman's undergarments using a knife. Dungeni and the third suspect took turns to rape her.
Sentencing them yesterday, senior regional magistrate Tranos Utahwashe described the duo as wicked and heartless men who had no place in society.
"There ought to be a clear distinction between the conduct of humans and that of animals. Both accused persons have no conscience or respect for humans as shown by the way they committed the offences," said Utahwashe.
"For the first count each accused is sentenced to 10 years in prison. Dungeni will serve an additional 20 years for raping a woman and Khumalo will serve two for kicking the same woman on her privates after failing to rape her."
Utahwashe said given the circumstances, there was no reason for him to suspend any years from the duo's sentences.
Dungeni and Khumalo also have a previous conviction of robbery for which they were sentenced to 11 years each. Now, effectively they will serve 41 and 23 years respectively.
They, together with the third accomplice pounced on a taxi driver and his lady client in Cowdray Park on August 1 last year at around 8PM. They allegedly robbed the driver before taking turns to rape the woman four times. Khumalo did not rape her after she claimed that she was HIV positive.
The driver and the female victim told the court of their harrowing ordeal.
"I had some goods and we went home and proceeded to my brother's place, also in Cowdray Park," said the rape victim. "On our way back to my home, someone smashed the windscreen from outside with an unknown object. As we tried to figure out what was happening, three men emerged from the darkness and opened the car doors."
She said the trio slapped them and threatened to hit them with machetes, knives and iron bars they were carrying.
"One of the men jumped onto the driver's seat and drove while we sat at the back in-between the two men who continued to assault us, forcing us to look down. After a while, the men stopped the car and one of them dragged me out of the vehicle and used a knife to cut my leggings and panties. He raped me once and force-marched me back into the car. He continued to do that for three times, stopping after a few kilometres and raping me and dragging me back into the car," she said.
The taxi driver told the court that the trio also escaped with his pair of jeans, jacket and cash amounting to $95.
Dungeni and Khumalo's sentencing follows that of eight others, who worked as a terror gang in Cowdray Park and Luveve suburbs, and were jailed for a combined 629 years after admitting to robbing and raping residents of the two suburbs in January this year.
This brings their prison terms to 64 years following their previous convictions.
Dumile Dungeni, 32, Mlungisi Khumalo, 34, and their accomplice who is on the run tied their victims with ropes and tore off the woman's undergarments using a knife. Dungeni and the third suspect took turns to rape her.
Sentencing them yesterday, senior regional magistrate Tranos Utahwashe described the duo as wicked and heartless men who had no place in society.
"There ought to be a clear distinction between the conduct of humans and that of animals. Both accused persons have no conscience or respect for humans as shown by the way they committed the offences," said Utahwashe.
"For the first count each accused is sentenced to 10 years in prison. Dungeni will serve an additional 20 years for raping a woman and Khumalo will serve two for kicking the same woman on her privates after failing to rape her."
Utahwashe said given the circumstances, there was no reason for him to suspend any years from the duo's sentences.
They, together with the third accomplice pounced on a taxi driver and his lady client in Cowdray Park on August 1 last year at around 8PM. They allegedly robbed the driver before taking turns to rape the woman four times. Khumalo did not rape her after she claimed that she was HIV positive.
The driver and the female victim told the court of their harrowing ordeal.
"I had some goods and we went home and proceeded to my brother's place, also in Cowdray Park," said the rape victim. "On our way back to my home, someone smashed the windscreen from outside with an unknown object. As we tried to figure out what was happening, three men emerged from the darkness and opened the car doors."
She said the trio slapped them and threatened to hit them with machetes, knives and iron bars they were carrying.
"One of the men jumped onto the driver's seat and drove while we sat at the back in-between the two men who continued to assault us, forcing us to look down. After a while, the men stopped the car and one of them dragged me out of the vehicle and used a knife to cut my leggings and panties. He raped me once and force-marched me back into the car. He continued to do that for three times, stopping after a few kilometres and raping me and dragging me back into the car," she said.
The taxi driver told the court that the trio also escaped with his pair of jeans, jacket and cash amounting to $95.
Dungeni and Khumalo's sentencing follows that of eight others, who worked as a terror gang in Cowdray Park and Luveve suburbs, and were jailed for a combined 629 years after admitting to robbing and raping residents of the two suburbs in January this year.
Source - chronicle
