Serial rapist screams insults after sentencing

Serial rapist Siyabonga Sloti, 29, described by a judge as one of the most dangerous people alive, screamed insults after being sentenced to life and 24 years in jail.

Unrepentant to the end, in the words of the prosecutor, Sloti vented his rage on a reporter who was taking his picture as police and prison guards removed him from the East London High Court to go to jail for the rest of his life.

Judge Judith Roberson convicted him on two counts of rape and one of robbery for offences he had committed in and around East London in 2015 and 2016.

One of his victims had told of how she had hailed his taxi, but Sloti drove her to a dark place and raped her at knifepoint.

An accomplice had also forced her to perform a lewd act on him.

She had not recovered from the traumatic incident, she said.

A second victim also hailed Sloti’s cab and ended up being raped and abused. He did not use protection.

The trauma had changed her outlook on people, and men in particular, the woman said.

Handing down her sentence, Roberson described Sloti as a perpetual rapist who did not see people as human beings but as mere objects to satisfy his perverted sexual habits.

She said sexual offences had taken their toll in SA and the courts needed to send a clear message that this was unacceptable to society.

The judge praised the courage of the victims.

“They testified with great courage and with dignity,” she said.

“We should encourage all women to demonstrate this kind of boldness whenever they find themselves in similar situations.”

She described Sloti as one of the most dangerous people alive, saying he had to be removed from society.

Roberson sentenced him to life imprisonment for the gang rape and to four years in prison for the robbery he committed with his two accomplices during the incident.

Sloti was sentenced to 20 years in prison for the rape of the second victim.

He is already serving a 12-year rape sentence for another rape, which was handed down in July 2018.

Roberson ordered that four years of the sentence for robbery and 10 years of the 20-year sentence for rape would run concurrently with the 12-year rape sentence.