A North West serial rapist collapsed and died in a court’s holding cells shortly after he pleaded guilty to multiple charges of rape and robbery and asked his victims’ families for forgiveness.
According to National Prosecuting Authority spokesperson Henry Mamothame, Johannes Jojo Shabangu, 35, collapsed in the holding cells of the Ga-Rankuwa Regional Court on Wednesday.
The suspect fell ill and collapsed in a holding cell, while the court was on recess.
This was subsequent to Judge Andre Peterson receiving his guilty plea statement and subsequently finding him guilty in all charges, in accordance to the guilty plea.
The case was set for Victim Impact Statements to be read in court before sentencing could be imposed, but it was rolled over to Thursday, 03 August 2023 for him to receive medical attention.
It emerged in court that Shabangu was declared dead by the paramedics and a declaration certificate was presented to Judge Peterson.
He then declared proceedings as finalised and he ordered for the death certificate to be filed with the registrar of the High Court of South; North West Division. He further ordered for an inquest docket to be registered, to determine the cause of death.
Shabangu’s court appearance emanates from incidents that took place in Winterveldt, in the Odi district, between July 2012 and December 2019, wherein he together with unknown accomplices, raped and robbed multiple women of their properties.
The evidence contained in the indictment indicates that in some instances, Shabangu together with his accomplices, would confront couples coming from places of leisure in the evenings, threaten them with a firearm, beat up the boyfriends, rob them of their belongings and subsequently take turns to rape the female victims.
In some instances, it emerges that they would break into homes and apply the same modus operandi. In other instances, they would accost a group of women and rob them before picking on one of them to rape. The youngest of their victim was 14 years of age and her ordeal took place in June 2015.
In his guilty plea statement, which was read by his attorney, he took responsibility for all the charges he was facing and asked for forgiveness to his victims.
The Director of Public Prosecutions in the North West, Dr Rachel Makhari, together with the Provincial Police Commissioner, Lieutenant General Sello Kwena, lauded Adv Nangomso Goloda and Sergeant Molwantoa Rapakgadi for their collaboration in ensuring a successful conviction, amid the unfortunate passing of the accused before sentencing.
