Six life terms and 192 years behind bars for man who killed and raped multiple people

28-year-old Wellington Kachidza has been given six life terms and 192 years imprisonment by the High Court in Pretoria after he was convicted on 34 counts.

According to North Gauteng regional spokesperson for the director of public prosecutions Lumka Mahanjana, the Zimbabwean national was convicted after he pleaded guilty to six counts of murder, three counts of rape, eight counts of kidnapping, eight counts of extortion, eight counts of robbery with aggravation circumstances and being in South Africa illegally.

The court heard between January 2018 and December 2019  Kachidza committed his crimes in Pretoria. According to reports he used the same method to lure male victims, pretending to ask for their assistance with driving. Before kidnaping them and demand ransom money from their families.

He would then kill his victims after he received the money, post-mortem reports showed that the victims received head injuries or trauma to the head.

Kachidza was arrested on January 15, 2020, based on an intelligence-driven operation and was later linked by DNA evidence to the rape counts.

by Everngelista Muza