Thabile Bhino Nyakiso, a serial rapist described as “inhumane and cruel” who targeted and raped eight women, including two teenage girls, has been sentenced to eight life terms.
Nyakiso, 32, was also sentenced in the Mthatha High Court on Friday to 15 years for each of three counts of robbery with aggravating circumstances and 12 months for common robbery.
The court ordered that Nyakiso would not be eligible for parole until he had served 30 years of his sentence. He was also declared unfit to possess a firearm.
Handing down sentence, acting judge Fikile Ntayiya said Nyakiso had been merciless and the offences he committed were so serious that he had destroyed the lives of his victims.
DNA evidence linked him to crimes committed in Tsolo between June 2016 and August 2017.
Nyakiso pleaded not guilty to all 12 counts.
The women testified during the trial, which began in 2024, reliving the traumatic ordeals they had suffered.
Nyakiso cut a stoic figure in the dock as Ntayiya told him he had no respect for women.
“What is worse is that some of the victims were raped more than once by you and one was 16 years at the time. When you repeatedly raped her, she was crying and asked you how you would feel if what you were doing to her was done to your sister. You were so merciless and continued with your crimes.
“You didn’t only rape the victims, but you made a point to rob. You went further to say a victim must lie on top of her boyfriend as you raped her. You were so cruel and inhumane. Society doesn’t deserve you at all. You were so inhumane,” Ntayiya said.
One of the victims, who was 16 at the time, lived in the Bele administrative area in Tsolo.
She and her cousin were at a salon in town at about 8pm on July 22 2016 when, on their way home, they passed three men dancing next to the road.
The men followed them and one grabbed her cousin while another forced her to an area near a church, undressed her and raped her at knifepoint while a second man, also armed with a knife, stood near her head.
The second man then also raped her.
Afterwards, the men forced her to sit with them. They fled after hearing a gunshot, taking her handbag and two phones.
The teenager saw an approaching vehicle and ran towards it for help. The driver, a police officer she knew, advised her to report the attack at the police station.
Another victim, who was 15 at the time, testified that she was walking from town with two companions on November 18 2016 when two men followed and accosted them before taking them into the bush.
The men tied one of her companions’ hands with a belt. One then tried to remove the 15-year-old's trousers and underwear before cutting them with a knife and raping her while the other man guarded her companions.
After the rape, she ran home, leaving her companions behind. She later reported the attack to police, telling them she did not know her rapist.
Ntayiya said the seriousness of Nyakiso’s crimes justified the prescribed minimum sentences.
“The offences committed by the accused were so serious in that he didn’t have regard to women. Some of the women were young. What he did was so gruesome.”
After considering the state and defence cases, Ntayiya found there were no substantial and compelling circumstances warranting a departure from the prescribed minimum sentences.
He said offences of this nature were prevalent, with women and children being raped daily.
Daily Dispatch