Alleged Tembisa serial rapist Phiri pleads not guilty to 114 charges
Phiri is accused of raping, kidnapping, and intimidating 37 women on the East Rand 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 - Alleged serial rapist Sipho Lucas Phiri has pleaded not guilty to 114 charges against him.
Phiri is accused of raping, kidnapping, and intimidating 37 women between 2018 and 2023 on the East Rand.
He was arrested last year and has been behind bars ever since.
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On Friday, after two failed attempts to prohibit the media from broadcasting his matter, the Pretoria High Court sitting in Benoni started his trial with the media present.
The State read out each of the 114 charges against the accused, allowing Phiri to plead.
He pleaded not guilty on all accounts.
“At or near Tembisa in the region of Tembisa, the accused did unlawfully and intentionally commit an act of sexual penetration with the complainants by inserting his penis into the vaginas of the complainants without consent.”
Interpreter: “Do you understand the charges against you and how do you plead?
Phiri: “Yes, I do, I plead not guilty.”