More than 1,000 years in prison. That is the sentence a serial rapist, who had terrorised women in Pretoria for five years, received last week.
Kudos to the judge for making sure this man will never walk the streets again and be a threat to women.
And that his victims can finally sleep easy, knowing that the man who violated them is locked away for good.
Sello Mapunya, 33, a father of two young children, was found guilty in the high court in Pretoria of raping 41 women, some multiple times and many in the presence of their husbands and children.
It was his habit of taking his victims’ cellphones that finally tripped him up.
Only one victim had seen his face because he always shone a torch in the women’s eyes.
In sentencing Mapunya, judge Papi Mosopa said: “Crimes against women and children have reached alarming proportions.
“Women are no longer free to walk the streets without fear of being raped or robbed.
“They are no longer safe in their own homes.
“It took police, through the use of modern technology, five years to catch you.
“Society’s last hope is the courts. Society has to be able to rely on this court to ensure that this evil is now removed.
“Your lawlessness ends now.”
Mosopa said he wanted the sentence to be a lesson to “others out there who think that they can prey on society’s most vulnerable.
“These sentences will not run concurrently ... you will be sentenced for every crime you committed separately,” he said.
After the sentencing, one of his victims reportedly said: “Every single woman here today is finally free of this monster.
“My nightmare is finally over. I now, for the first time in five years, have closure.”
But she added: “Inside I am still crying.
“I am crying for all the other women who will still go through this because there are so many more monsters out there like this monster.
“In South Africa we, as women, will never be free.”
However, the sentence sends a strong message.
Though we all know there are many more monsters of the same ilk still out there and that women can never let their guard down, the judge and the police officers who eventually nailed this evil rapist will have restored some faith in the justice system — and they will have given women hope.
HeraldLIVE