Investigators used DNA to link a suspect to 13 cases of rape of minors dating back to 2004, a Durban court heard.
|||Durban - Investigators used DNA of a suspect arrested last year to link him to 13 cases of rape of minors dating back to 2004, the Durban Regional Court heard on Wednesday.
Alleged serial rapist Sipho Alfred Mdluli, 45, from Ntuzuma, pleaded not guilty at the start of his trial on Wednesday to 13 counts of rape.
The State alleges that Mdluli raped the girls, all younger than 16, in the greater Durban area from February 2004 to January last year.
The youngest is a seven-year-old from KwaMashu who was raped in May 2006.
In some cases it is alleged Mdluli used a knife to threaten the children before he raped them.
In his defence Mdluli, who faces a life sentence for each count if convicted, will argue that he was implicated by the investigating officer, who he claimed was having an affair with his wife and daughter.
Testifying in camera before regional magistrate Siphiwe Hlophe on Wednesday was one of the victims, who is now 14 years old.
The soft-spoken teenager, who testified through an intermediary, told the court she had met Mdluli at a tuck shop near her home on the afternoon of August 28, 2010.
She said Mdluli had asked her to help him carry his belongings and led her to a bushy area near Bridge City Shopping Centre in KwaMashu.
He ordered her to urinate on a stone and pick flowers, then asked her to remove her underwear, she said.
She said when she refused he punched her in the stomach, causing her to fall.
He then raped her, she said.
After he was done, she said he gave her R10 to catch a taxi home.
When she got home the teenager said she told her mother what had happened and they went to the nearest police station to report the incident.
Prosecutor Jerome Gnanapragas was granted an application to admit DNA evidence at the start of proceedings.
Gnanapragas told the court that prior to the accused’s arrest, several instances of rape had occurred and samples were obtained at a time when his identity was unknown.
Mdluli was later arrested and his DNA had allegedly been linked to the 13 cases.
Many of the investigating officers of the earlier cases had since died or had left the police service, he told the court.
The trial was adjourned to next month.
rizwana.umar@inl.co.za
Daily News
