The Western Cape High Court has handed down a lengthy sentence of 210 years to serial rapist, kidnapper and robber Thobile Dyonase.
This sentence comes after the court found him guilty of a range of serious crimes he committed against women, which included six counts of rape, one count of sexual assault, eight counts of kidnapping and eight counts of robbery with aggravating circumstances. The various sentence lengths ranged from 5 years to life imprisonment for all 23 charges. The court ordered that all the sentences imposed run concurrently.
Prosecutor Louise Freister, told the court that Dyonase was employed as an Avanza taxi driver in Nyanga. During the period between 12 August 2017 and 02 October 2017, he drove around the Tableview and Parklands area where he targeted women walking alone in the dark on their way to catch public transport to work.
He would hoot for them as taxi drivers usually do to get their attention. Then charm the passenger into getting into the taxi. He would tell her that he needed to take a different route to avoid traffic, then demand their cellphones, money, bank cards and he even raped some of the women. One of the victims begged him not to rape her in front of her son.
Freister argued during aggravation of sentence that circumstances surrounding the various charges the accused is convicted of, are indicative of a level of planning on his part.
“These offences were not randomly perpetrated on the spur of the moment but were held together by the accused employing a specific modus operandi when perpetrating the crimes.
“He is a more dangerous type of offender in that his offences are carefully planned. His planning involves the seeking out the most vulnerable of the complainants. Once he violated the victims he left them on the side of the road to fend for themselves,” she argued.
She told the court that the accused did not take responsibility for his crimes and failed to show remorse.
Victim Impact Statements compiled by social worker, Shafieka Moos, paint deep seated scars that were left on the victims. One of the victims told the court that she ran whenever she saw a man, would jump out of a moving vehicle once the driver locks the doors and would jump whenever a strange male person looked and greeted her.
“It is the State’s respectful submission that there are no substantial and compelling circumstances in the accused’s personal circumstances that warrant a departure from the prescribed minimum sentence,” she closed her arguments.
The court concurred and sentenced him accordingly. Acting Director of Public Prosecutions in the Western Cape, Advocate Nicolette Bell, welcomed the sentence and said crimes against women were a top priority of the organisation.
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