Call for life term for rapist who preyed on elderly
Pretoria North serial rapist and killer Andries Makgae deserves to spend the rest of his life in jail, a court was told.
|||Pretoria - Pretoria North serial rapist and killer Andries Makgae deserves to spend the rest of his life in jail.
Prosecutor Phyllis Vorster asked Judge Vivian Tlhapi, of the high court in Pretoria, on Thursday to mete out the most severe possible sentence to Makgae.
He conducted his crimes in Onderstepoort and preyed mostly on elderly women, whom he strangled to death with their underwear after raping them.
Makgae was earlier convicted of nine charges - four of murder and five charges of rape. He followed the same modus operandi when he embarked on an 18-month reign of terror from January 2012.
He embarked on a renewed crime spree barely six months after his parole period lapsed following his release from jail after 10 years for a string of previous crimes.
Most of the victims' bodies were so decomposed when they were found, that the cause of death could not be determined.
The body of one victim, found near the Bon Accord Dam, was so decomposed that it was merely bones and a skull. Her family only identified her by her shoes and a bucket she had with her. She was on her way to fetch water when she was overpowered by Makgae.
The flamboyant and well-dressed 55-year-old pleaded guilty to most of the murder charges, while he denied the bulk of the rape charges.
His advocate tried to offer the fact that he did plead guilty to some charges, as a mitigating fact, but the judge pointed out that he was linked to these crimes via DNA evidence.
He claimed that a woman infected him with HIV which he then transferred to his wife. He subsequently developed a hatred towards women. He said this was the reason why he killed Maria Pilore, 60.
He, however, denied that he raped her and claimed that they had a relationship. She was last seen visiting a tavern on a smallholding. Her partly decomposed body was discovered 17 days later in dense bushes.
The cause of death couldn't be determined. A few weeks later, 69-year-old Juliet Mokgatla was murdered. She was sent by her husband on February 4, 2012, to a nearby shop. Her body was also discovered in dense bush.
Makgae had wrapped her underwear around her neck after he used it to strangle her. She was also raped before being killed.
Praise Mpatsi, 29, suffered the same fate. Her husband testified that he left for work on January 3, 2013, leaving his wife at home. When he returned she was missing.
Her body was discovered nearly three weeks later. While the police were still searching for the missing Mpatsi, Makgae pounced on his last victim before he was caught.
Vorster said had it not been for the bravery of the last victim, who managed to alert the police after she was raped twice, Makgae would have continued on his rape and butchering spree. “Society cries out for protection.”
Makgae will be sentenced on July 29.
zelda.venter@inl.co.za
Pretoria News