REPORTER

THE KwaZulu-Natal division of the High Court sitting in Port Shepstone has sentenced Manuel Gonera (31) to life imprisonment and an additional 10 years’ imprisonment for the rape and attempted murder of a woman (28).

The court further sentenced him to four months’ imprisonment for contravening Section 49 of the Immigration Act.

Natasha Ramkisson-Kara, NPA regional spokesperson for the KwaZulu-Natal division, said that offences were committed in 2022 in Msikaba on the KwaZulu-Natal south coast.

The woman was walking home from a local tavern when she was accosted by the suspect.

She was assaulted, stabbed with a broken beer bottle and dragged to a secluded area, where she was raped.

The woman pretended to be dead after she was strangled. After the suspect ran away, a security officer, who was on his way to work, spotted the woman and rescued her.

The woman was later taken to the Port Shepstone Thuthuzela Care Centre for medical and forensic examination and a case was reported to the police.

The following year, the suspect was caught by members of the public in connection with a suspected similar crime.

However, the suspect was linked to the rape case just  moments after police obtained buccal swab samples from him.

He was arrested and after several court appearances, he was sentenced and declared unfit to possess a firearm.

“The NPA welcomes the sentence handed down. The NPA’s fight against the scourge of sexual violence continues to be strengthened by the expansion of the Thuthuzela Care Centre (TCC) footprint across the country, which has grown from 55 TCCs in 2020/2021 to 66 TCCs at present,” said Ramkisson-Kara, adding that the centres provide comprehensive services and support to victims of sexual violence.