Dudu Dube

“I didn't do anything. You know how life is, this is a challenge, I didn’t do any of those things. I don’t even know those women.”

These were the words of serial killer and rapist Jack Mogale before he was found guilty of 52 crimes including 16 murders.

Judge Frans Kgomo described Mogale as a liar who contradicted himself numerous times and tried to shift blame every time he was cornered.

“I can safely say that the accused was an untruthful witness whose evidence cannot be relied on. He contradicted himself and came up with new versions. I formed the impression that he was not telling the whole truth,” said the judge.

“The state has proved beyond reasonable doubt the accused’s guilt,” he said.

Mogale may have been nailed by DNA evidence, admissions, two women who survived his killing spree and a confession statement he made after the arrest, but it was his fiancée, main state witness Charlotte Manaka, who put the final nail in the coffin with a testimony that contradicted all of Mogale’s versions.

Judge Kgomo started by dismissing Mogale’s version that police had conspired against him by taking a used condom from his house on the day he was arrested and using the specimen found in it as DNA evidence.

“This defence is very suspicious, especially because the DNA kit was compiled long before the accused was even identified as a suspect and long before he was arrested. The accused’s own girlfriend testified that they were not using condoms,” said the judge.

The judge also said Manaka confirmed that Mogale normally wore a Zion Christian Church badge or sangoma beads. That confirmed evidence of two women who said they were tricked into believing Mogale was a prophet sent by God to cure them. They both identified him by the badge and sangoma beads.

Mogale killed 16 women and raped 12 in the Lenasia and Westonaria areas between 2008 and 2009. He was also convicted of numerous counts of theft, kidnapping, sexual assault and escaping from lawful custody.

“On the day he was arrested, the accused displayed hatred for women. He behaved like a psychopath, even showing his manhood to the female police officer. When he met the same policewoman at the station he said, ‘when I come out of here you will be the first person I rape and kill’,” said the judge.