Shrewd investigative work by the KwaZulu-Natal Provincial Family Violence, Child Protection and Sexual Offences Unit has put an end to Bhekithemba Fanozi Nxumalo's raping spree and ensured that the 42-year-old rapist was condemned to jail for the rest of his life. This was after the Mtubatuba High Court sentenced Nxumalo to twelve terms of life imprisonment and an additional 75 years in jail after finding him guilty on a string of rape cases. The sentence was handed down on 10 June 2024.
Nxumalo's reign of terror started in July 2012 when he broke into a house at Mdungandlovu Reserve around midnight and found an elderly woman sleeping with her two granddaughters. Nxumalo demanded money from the granny at knife point and when he could not find any, he raped her 24-year-old granddaughter. The granny and a younger granddaughter were saved by the same 24-year-old who managed to send a call back to her brother who came to their rescue. Nxumalo managed to escape into darkness.
From then on Nxumalo continued his raping spree, targeting young women who were walking alone. He would drag them into the bushes and sugarcane fields and threatened them with a knife before raping them. In most cases the convicted sex pest would rape his victims more than once. His 10-year raping spree was brought to an abrupt end when police cornered and arrested him in April 2021. Nxumalo's application for an Appeal was refused and he was also declared unfit to possess a firearm.
In other convictions, the Empangeni FCS Unit has secured a lifetime imprisonment sentence for a 59-year-old man who was found guilty of raping his 8-year-old stepdaughter. The Esikhaleni Regional Court heard that the stepfather raped the little girl several times when her mother was not around.
The Esikhaleni Regional Court also sentenced a 58-year-old man to a term of life imprisonment following a guilty verdict on a case of rape in which he raped his 12-year-old granddaughter at Madlankala area in Esikhaleni in February 2024. The Empangeni Regional Court has also handed a 25-year imprisonment sentence to a 25-year-old man who was found guilty of assaulting and raping his 22-year-old girlfriend. The victim had to be hospitalised after she attempted suicide after the rape ordeal.
