KAROO NEWS - On Tuesday 12 September, convicted robber and rapist Siphosethu Simons (26), was sentenced in the High Court Eastern Cape Division, sitting in Graaff-Reinet, to life imprisonment plus 15 years.
Simons was convicted of three charges of rape of two females as well as robbery.
He was sentenced to life on two counts of rape of a 13-year-old girl and received 10 years for the third count of rape and five years for robbery.
The court ordered the 15-year sentence to run concurrently with the life sentence.
Simons pleaded guilty to all charges after being linked by DNA evidence but refused to divulge the name of his accomplice in the crimes.
The first rape took place on the night of 11 November 2016. The 27-year-old victim was walking near the soccer stadium at Umasizakhe township in Graaff-Reinet, when Simons, a stranger to her, asked her for a cigarette. Before she could respond, he ordered her to accompany him down an isolated hill. When she refused, he grabbed her by her clothing and raped her using a condom that he afterwards threw away at the scene. The victim reported the rape to the Graaff-Reinet Police, who retrieved the used condom for DNA analysis.
The 13-year-old was raped on the night of 12 December 2020. The victim was walking to her boyfriend's place in Tyoksville in Graaff-Reinet when she was accosted by Simons and another, unknown man. The men took the victim to the hill behind Umasizakhe township, where they took turns raping her before fleeing. The girl told a neighbour about the rape and later reported it to the police, who collected DNA.
Following Simon's arrest on an unrelated matter, DNA swabs taken from him were linked to the two rapes, and due to the overwhelming forensic evidence against him, he pleaded guilty.
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