Man convicted of serious crimes gets hefty jail term

KWAGGAFONTEIN – The Mkobola Regional Court in Kwaggafontein outside Marble Hall sentenced a 43 year-old man to 37 years imprisonment for various charges including rape, assault with intension to cause grievous bodily harm, attempted rape, kidnapping and compelled self sexual assault.

Collen Mandla Ndala was sentenced after he was found guilty of crimes committed between December 2013 and January 2015 when he worked as a taxi driver and took advantage of vulnerable and unsuspecting women who were hitch-hiking at night.

The court heard that Ndala would then take a detour, drive to a secluded area and brutally rape his defenseless victims.

Brigadier Leonard Hlathi, Mpumalanga Provincial Police Spokesperson, said Ndala’s shenanigans came to light when two victims aged 15 and 24 years-old respectively, separately reported the matter to the police who immediately opened cases and commenced with investigations.

Hlathi said police managed to track down and arrested Ndala in 2015, who remained in custody since then.

During the trial, Ndala pleaded not guilty to all the charges before him and told the court that the victims were his girlfriends. He further told the court that he never had sexual contact with the first one who was 15 years-old at the time but conceded sleeping with the second one who was 24 years-old then.

Handing down the sentence, the magistrate further highlighted that Ndala committed offences against women in 2013 as well as 2015, even using a dangerous weapon against a 15 year-old girl when trying to rape her while also exposing her to pornographic materials.

The court was also reminded that in 2015, Ndala’s antics continued as he attacked another woman whom he kidnapped and raped repeatedly and further the ordeal, ordered her to perform disgusting sexual acts on him.

Ndala was finally sentenced to 37 years imprisonment for five counts. Count 1, which is assault with intention to cause grievous bodily harm, he was sentenced to seven years, on count 2, which is attempted rape, Ndala was sent packing to three years, whereas on count 3, which is kidnapping, he was sentenced to five years, and on count 4, the tape rape case, he was sentenced to 25 years and for the charge of compelled sexual assault, he was sentenced to two years.

Ndala was also found to be unfit to work with children as stipulated in the Children’s Act and unfit to possess a firearm as stipulated in the Firearms Control Act.