A 20-year-old man was arrested for raping and robbing teenage girls in Limpopo after luring them on Facebook.
Police arrested an alleged serial rapist on Christmas Day for luring teenage girls into meeting him via Facebook and then raping them in bushes.
Officers from the Tzaneen Family Violence, Child Protection, and Sexual Offences Unit arrested a 20-year-old man.
Police arrested the alleged serial rapist after several rape incidents involving girls aged 14 to 16 were reported in the Modjadjiskloof and Bolobedu policing area since the beginning of December 2024.
Several girls raped since beginning of December
The suspect allegedly lured his victims into meeting him at Kgapane Plaza using Facebook. He would convince the girls to walk with him to bushes near Manningburg, where he raped and robbed them of their belongings, such as cash and cellphones.
“In one of the cases, the suspect met a teenage girl while she was walking to her friend’s house in Ga-Kgapane village and attacked her from behind,” said Limpopo police spokesperson Brigadier Hlulani Mashaba.
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“He then blindfolded her and dragged her to the same crime scene [Manningburg] where he raped her before robbing her of cash and her cellphone.”
One of his victims attacked the alleged serial rapist in self-defence, and then he was admitted to Kgapane Hospital, where police made the arrest.
Mashaba said police found the suspect with a fake identity document and some of the stolen cash and cellphone when they arrested him. Police recovered the money and cellphone.
Alleged serial rapist found with fake ID and stolen cash, cellphone
According to preliminary investigations, the suspect was on bail for another rape case of a 14-year-old girl that occurred in September 2024, using the same modus operandi.
The Limpopo provincial police commissioner, Lieutenant General Thembi Hadebe, has since warned community members against the irresponsible use of social media.
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“The provincial commissioner has welcomed the arrest of the alleged rapists and appealed to communities, especially young women, to be cautious when interacting with strangers on social media platforms such as Facebook, since this poses a significant risk to their safety,” Mashaba said.
In a separate case on Christmas Day, the Kanana village community caught a 37-year-old suspect red-handed while he was raping a 30-year-old woman near a local river.
The suspect allegedly attacked the victim with a stone and assaulted her with his fists before he raped her.
“The victim was rescued by the community and her relatives. The suspect was also attacked by the community and eventually rescued by the police, who took him to the hospital and placed him under police guard,” Mashaba added.
The arrested suspects will be appearing before the Tzaneen Magistrate’s Court on Friday.
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