An alleged serial rapist, Wilson Sithole (47), appeared in the district court in Louis Trichardt on Wednesday, March 24, on nine counts of rape.

The rapes took place over a period of about two years. Sithole pleaded not guilty to all the charges, although he has been linked to some of the cases by DNA evidence and through identification parades in other cases.

Sithole is accused of meeting his victims, all between the ages of 20 and 30, in Louis Trichardt and then luring them away by offering them jobs.

According to some of the women’s testimonies, Sithole would approach them, saying that his “boss” was looking for female employees and that he would take them to him.

In one of the cases, the woman got suspicious when Sithole instructed her to walk in front of him through some bushes. When she started questioning him, he pulled out a knife, threatened her to be quiet, and proceeded to rape her. Some of the women also testified that Sithole not only raped them repeatedly, but he also forced them to have oral sex with him.

Sithole was arrested at the end of 2008, when police questioned him and his next victim-to-be during a routine patrol.

When questioned, Sithole told the policeman that he and the lady were on their way to a store, whereupon the lady became suspicious and told the police that Sithole was lying and had offered her a job.

Sithole was subsequently taken to the police station for further investigation. DNA samples were taken and sent off to be matched to unsolved rape cases.

Sithole’s DNA was a match and he was promptly taken into custody.

He will remain in custody until his next court appearance on July 15 and 16.