THE Pretoria Magistrate's Court has sentenced 32-year-old Zimbabwean national, Mulero Nyangero to life imprisonment after he was convicted of rape.

Nyangero, who was residing in Pretoria West, was slapped with a further five years' direct imprisonment sentence for robbery with aggravating circumstances.

Gauteng spokesperson for the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA), Lumka Mahanjana said the court ordered that the sentences should run concurrently, and that Nyangero be declared unfit to possess a firearm.

"On 14 August 2020 in the afternoon, the victim was running on Kloof Street in Pretoria West, when three men came out of the nearby bush, approached, and dragged her into the bushes where Nyangero raped her," said Mahanjana.

"While Nyangero was raping her, the other two men were assaulting her and they threatened her with a knife.

"Thereafter, they forced her to transfer money to them via cellphone banking, tied her hands and fled the scene," she said.

The victim later managed to untie herself, ran to the road, where she got a lift home from a vehicle which was passing by.

Thereafter, she went to Pretoria West police station, where she reported the matter.

After investigations, Nyangero was arrested on 21 February 2021 at a tavern in Pretoria West and has been in custody since.

In court, Nyangero pleaded not guilty to the charges preferred against him and denied ever committing the offences.

"However, state prosecutor Advocate Chester Molaba presented compelling evidence by the investigating officers and the victim, which proved that indeed Nyangero committed the offences.

"During sentencing proceedings, through his legal representative, Nyangero asked the court to deviate from imposing the prescribed minimum sentences because he is married and has two minor children that he needs to provide and care for," said Mahanjana.

Furthermore, he asked the court to consider the fact that he has been in custody for four years since his arrest in 2021.

Molaba, however, argued against the deviation from the prescribed minimum sentence of life imprisonment, stating that Nyangero had showed no remorse for the serious crimes of gender-based violence he committed, which are prevalent in South Africa.

Furthermore, Molaba argued that the offences committed by Nyangero were inhumane, vicious, and brutal against a defenceless woman.

In delivering the judgment, Magistrate Themba Ndwandwe agreed with the state that the crimes committed by Nyangero were inhumane and that he had shown no remorse.

Furthermore, the magistrate noted that Nyangero had no respect for women because he treated the victim "like an animal".

In the end, the court found that there were no substantial and compelling circumstances to deviate from imposing the prescribed minimum sentence of life in prison.

Meanwhile, Acting Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) in Gauteng, advocate Marika Jansen Van Vuuren, has welcomed the sentences, and applauded the work of the prosecutor and the investigating officer, Captain Mkhonto, which led to the conviction.

She added that she hopes the sentence reaffirms the NPA's commitment to tackling crimes of gender-based violence.

Last year, IOL reported that a 28-year-old man from Akasia, Pretoria, was sentenced to life imprisonment for raping his girlfriend's 12-year-old sister.

The man was sentenced to life behind bars at the Pretoria North Magistrates' Court.

The rapist cannot be named to protect the identity of the victim.

The little girl was raped in July 2021 when she had visited her sister, who resides in Akasia, where she was staying with her boyfriend.