The Bhisho High Court in the Eastern Cape has sentenced Melumzi Tom 38, to life imprisonment for raping a woman in November 2015.
Tom raped a 44-year-old woman at Lower Gwalana in Peddie after breaking into her home and demanding money. The court heard that Tom then shot her in the leg before raping her.
National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) regional spokesperson Anelisa Ngcakani says Tom was further sentenced to 46 years for robbery, housebreaking, assault, and sexual assault which will run concurrently with the life term.
Lower Gwalana community leader Mzimkhulu Mzali says the community welcomes the life sentence.
Mzali says, “There’s a lot of incidents in this village, a lot of shootings, we as a community we’re here to ensure these women are safe. All villagers including churches are happy – because this guy – how many people have they killed. It means they have experience because from inside jail they wanted to make sure they killed the victims.”
