- A 45-year-old man was arrested on Friday for allegedly raping two girls in a hotel in Tshwane.
- The accused is a parolee who previously spent time in prison after being convicted on a rape charge.
- He served just over five years and six months of his seven-year sentence before being released on parole.
A 45-year-old man accused of raping two girls in a hotel in Tshwane was previously convicted of rape, and served five years and six months of his seven-year sentence before being released on parole.
The man, whose identity cannot be revealed as he is related to one of the victims, made his first appearance in the Pretoria Magistrate's Court on Monday after he was arrested on Friday.
It is alleged the accused picked up the victims, aged 11 and 13, from Lotus Gardens in Atteridgeville on Friday, took them to a liquor store in Pretoria West and then made his way to the CBD where he rented a hotel room.
There, it is alleged he raped both victims.
In a statement, police spokesperson Brigadier Mathapelo Peters said the youngest victim managed to escape and alerted people who were in the hotel.
"Hotel security was alerted, and police were called in and subsequently arrested the suspect who was still in the hotel room."
Peters also revealed the man was previously convicted and sentenced for rape.
Parole
Department of Correctional Services spokesperson Singabakho Nxumalo confirmed to News24 the accused was registered in its community corrections system.
According to the available information, the parolee started serving his seven-year sentence for rape on 11 June 2012 and was subsequently placed on parole on 19 December 2017.
The accused's sentence was set to expire on 8 May 2021 due to an addition of 698 days for a parole break.
Nxumalo could not confirm what the parole violation was for.
After the man was arrested on Friday, the department also struggled to locate him over the weekend when they were conducting monitoring. As a result, two teams were dispatched to look for him at his home and subsequently at the Pretoria West police station.
"Our community corrections office is now attending to the conduct of this parolee [s he could not be located] and shall pronounce on his parole status. The latest developments are also being monitored by the Department of Correctional Services," Nxumalo said.
Previous charge
News24 asked the National Prosecuting Authority for details on the previous rape case on which he was convicted and sentenced, but apart from the sentenced imposed, other details were not available.
If he was convicted of raping an adult and there were no other aggravating circumstances then the minimum sentence would be 10 years for a first-time offender, 15 years for a second-time offender and 20 years for a third-time offender, according to the minimum sentencing legislation.
Plead
The accused initially told the court he did not want to waste the court's time and wanted to plead guilty to the charges.
According to the charge sheet, the accused had been charged with two counts of rape and two counts of kidnapping.
After a short adjournment, he told the court he wanted to use the services of legal aid and to apply for bail.
The case was postponed to 7 December for a formal bail application.