NPA urges court to reject alleged serial rapist Phiri's bid to appeal decision to allow broadcast of trial
The 39-year-old is facing 114 charges relating to the rape and kidnapping of 37 women between 2018 and 2023.
Alleged serial rapist, Sipho Lucas Phiri, appeared in the Benoni Magistrates Court on 5 September 2024. Picture: Xanderleigh Dookey Makhaza/EWN
JOHANNESBURG - The National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) has urged the Pretoria High Court to reject Sipho Lucas Phiri's application to challenge the decision to allow the media to film and broadcast court proceedings.
Phiri has filed an application for leave to appeal an earlier court order.
The 39-year-old is facing 114 charges relating to the rape and kidnapping of 37 women between 2018 and 2023.
He was arrested in January last year and made his first appearance at the Benoni Magistrates Court.
The matter was then transferred to the Pretoria High Court, which is sitting in Benoni.
His trial was set to start at the beginning of September but it was delayed by his attempts to bar the broadcasting of proceedings.
Sporting a light blue shirt and black pants, rape accused Sipho Lucas Phiri appeared stoic as he sat in the dock awaiting the outcome of his leave to appeal application.
The court is set to rule on the matter on Friday and his trial will commence next week.
A packed gallery heard how Phiri’s children had become the victims of cyberbullying as a result of the matter before court and how the continued broadcast of his case would endanger him and his family if he is released on bail.
Phiri is yet to plead to the charges.