A convicted criminal was sentenced to a further 20 years for rape and robbery in 2013.
Commander of the Hermanus Family Violence, Child Protection and Sexual Crimes (FCS) unit, Captain Buks Hanekom, explained the case took 13 years to finalise because the complainant had identified a man who was murdered a month after the crime took place on 6 March 2013 in Sandbaai.
The victim was walking in Bergsig Street, Sandbaai, when accosted and robbed before being forced into the bushes and raped. He threatened to kill her if she reported the matter.
“In April 2013, the case was closed after the complainant read about the murder of a man fitting her attacker’s description,” Hanekom said. After a forensic DNA lead in October last year linked a suspect to the case, it was reopened. Detective Constable Tiaan Brooks, the investigating officer, traced the complainant, who had moved to a different province.
The suspect, Odwa Mooi (34), was serving a theft sentence in Pollsmoor Correctional Centre.
On 19 October, Mooi was sentenced in the Hermanus Regional Court to 10 years' imprisonment for rape and 10 years for robbery after being found guilty on both charges.
The court declared Mooi unfit to possess a firearm and unsuitable to work with children, ordering that his particulars be entered into the National Register of Sex Offenders. ■
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