Habitual offender sentenced to seven life terms for rape
The South Gauteng High Court in Johannesburg has sentenced a habitual rapist, 30-year old Oupa Morgan, to an effective seven life terms and an additional 60 years behind bars for rape and robberies.
At the time of his sentencing in Johannesburg, Morgan was already serving 18 years imprisonment for numerous counts of rapes and robberies which he committed in Limpopo between 2016 and 2017.
National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) spokesperson Phindi Mjonondwane says after leaving Limpopo in 2017, Morgan moved to Gauteng and continued targeting women on their way to work.
“Morgan was found guilty of seven counts of rape and robbery with aggravating circumstances, six counts of kidnapping and two counts of contravention of the Firearms Control Act (pointing of anything which is likely to lead a person to believe it is a firearm) and one count of housebreaking with intent to commit an offence,” says Mjonondwane.
Mjonondwane says he entered a guilty plea to all counts in March 2021.
“The state submitted Victim Impact Statements which detailed how these women were scarred for life. The reports added that some of them lost their jobs as a result of the trauma of Morgan’s crimes.
The state prosecutor, Valencia Dube, further submitted a plea and sentence agreement as well as a pre-sentence report that was submitted to the Limpopo High Court in an attempt to prove that Morgan got away with lies about his circumstances in that court.”
He was sentenced to nine years for each count of rape.
“The judge said the court was dealing with a habitual offender who had a chance of redeeming himself after leaving Limpopo, but chose to continue inflicting harm to unsuspecting women.”
The NPA has welcomed the sentence.
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