David Randitsheni was convicted in August 2009 on all 46 counts brought against him in the Modimolle Circuit High Court in Limpopo, South Africa. The counts included ten of murder and eighteen of kidnapping, with other charges. The government news agency reported nineteen victims in the case, ten of whom were killed between 2004 and 2008. One was an adult woman. The rest were children, most of them girls from Phagameng, a township of Modimolle, and from the villages around it.
For four years police in Limpopo searched for whoever was taking the children. They offered a large reward, arrested and released another man, and in the end cordoned off part of the township and took blood samples from the men they found there. A single match from that screening led them to Randitsheni, a man who lived a short distance away and who, residents said, had been part of the neighborhood for years. He made admissions within days of his arrest. At trial he made 89 formal admissions, and the case that prosecutors had expected to last two weeks ended in two days. He was sentenced in August 2009. Less than two weeks later he was found dead in his cell at Thohoyandou Prison.
Little is known about Randitsheni's early life. His age was given as 45 at his first court appearance in May 2008 and again at his death in August 2009; a Sowetan report published in September 2009 gave it as 47. His surname appears in several spellings: Randitsheni in the government news agency's report, Randitshene in IOL, and Rannditsheni in Sowetan, which gave his full name as David Nnana Rannditsheni.
He told officials after his arrest that he lived in Mandela village, near Phagameng in Modimolle. According to IOL, he lived there with his wife and three children. The police profile of him, as reported by IOL, described a man with a Grade 5 education who was an unemployed bricklayer and farmer.
Neighbors knew him. Residents of Mandela village told Sowetan in July 2008 that they had known him for some time and had not suspected him. The mother of one of the girls who survived told the paper, after the sentencing, that he used to visit neighbors for drinks and would drink anything from sorghum beer to spirits. The families, she said, never suspected that he was behind the disappearances of their children.
Modimolle, known as Nylstroom until its name was changed, is a town in Limpopo, north of Pretoria. Phagameng is one of its townships. From 2004 onward children began to vanish from the area.
By June 2007 the pattern was plain to the police. Sowetan reported that month that eleven children from the Modimolle area had disappeared over the previous three years, that seven of them had been found dead, and that four were still missing. The first two had gone missing in September 2004. The children ranged in age from four to 14. Senior Superintendent Motlafela Mojapelo, a Limpopo police spokesman, said the method was the same in most of the cases and that the police believed a serial killer might be at large. Because intensive investigation had produced no result, the police applied for a reward, and a payment of R250,000 was approved for information leading to an arrest and conviction.
In September 2007 the police said they were waiting for the results of DNA tests on blood samples taken from suspects, to establish whether the deaths were the work of one person. Mojapelo said the results "would go a long way" in helping the investigation. Sowetan's figures at that point were about seven children dead, aged between three and 13, with four still missing.
The investigation was by then a matter for national specialists as well as local detectives. According to IOL, the Investigative Psychology Unit led by Professor Gerard Labuschagne was called in early in the investigation. Because serial offenders often return to the same places, a task team was formed to look for a single offender. The unit, set up in 1996 and based at police head office in Pretoria, assisted provincial detectives in serial murder and other serial violent crimes with crime scene analysis, interviews, profiling and court testimony, according to a 2008 study of its work in SA Crime Quarterly. That study put its strength at head office at three members.
On January 29, 2008, Limpopo police arrested a 33-year-old man at his home near Thohoyandou and announced that they had caught the person responsible. Sowetan reported that he had worked as a building contractor in Modimolle when the children disappeared, and that he faced charges of murder and other charges. Police said a woman had picked him out at an identification parade.
The case did not hold. In March 2008 Renier van Rooyen, the senior public prosecutor at Modimolle, said the charges had been withdrawn because DNA tests comparing the man with the evidence from the victims had come back negative. Sowetan described the outcome as a return to the drawing board. Residents who had come to court were angry, and some said they now lived in fear of the next attack. A mother whose two children had disappeared and were later found dead in April 2005 told the paper she feared for her life. Mojapelo called the withdrawal "a temporary setback." IOL later reported that police had arrested other suspects during the investigation and had released them for lack of evidence.
In April 2008 the police changed their approach. The provincial police commissioner gave investigators permission to cordon off any place they chose in the search for the killer. Mojapelo told Sowetan that officers went to the area, sealed off a particular spot and took blood samples from every man they found there. By mid-May 2008 the police were waiting for the results. Eight bodies had been found by then, of victims aged from four to 19, and three children were still missing.
Pressure on the police was growing. On May 15, 2008, Sowetan reported that Buti Manamela, national secretary of the Young Communist League and himself from the area, had written an open letter to President Thabo Mbeki, the minister of safety and security, Charles Nqakula, and the minister of justice, Brigitte Mabandla, asking for an investigation. He asked that the case be pursued with the same effort as the high-profile murder of the student Leigh Matthews, so that the families could find closure.
The screening produced its result. IOL described it as the largest mass DNA screening yet carried out in a South African police case. According to its report, 543 samples were tested and produced a single match; the government news agency put the number at more than 550. DNA from the scenes had linked one person to twelve cases, IOL said. The match led police to a man who was a neighbor of one of the most recent victims. Labuschagne explained the choice of method by saying that Phagameng was small and that serial offenders "often work in their own areas."
Randitsheni was arrested on May 16, 2008, according to the government news agency. Sowetan reported that he was arrested at Lwamondo, outside Thohoyandou, in the far north of the province. Calvin Sengani, the provincial police commissioner, said DNA evidence had led to the arrest, and Sowetan reported that forensic evidence linked him to eleven cases.
He made his first appearance in the Modimolle magistrates' court on May 19, 2008. The courtroom was full. Relatives of the victims wept as he was brought in under a heavy police escort, and some shouted for him to be punished. The presiding magistrate, Aaron Mahumani, struggled to restore order and threatened to have anyone making a noise locked up. Outside, crowds chanted slogans and called for the death penalty; among them were women in ANC Women's League colors and members of the Musina Women's Network.
He faced 17 counts at that stage, seven of them murder, with other charges. He was not asked to plead. Van Rooyen, the senior public prosecutor, told Sowetan that Randitsheni had confessed to a magistrate in a private room shortly before the hearing and that more charges could follow. The case was postponed to July 11 so that the police could continue their investigation. A mother who had lost two children in 2005 told the paper she was seeing him for the first time and hoped the law would be harsh.
On July 11, 2008, people arrived at the court from 8 a.m. to see him, only to find that the case had been called at about 7:30 a.m., before normal court hours, and was already over. Manamela, who was among them, said the justice system did not have the interests of the families at heart and that the investigating officer should have told them when the case would be heard. The matter was postponed again, to September 26, to allow the police to investigate new information.
By the time the case reached the Modimolle Circuit High Court in August 2009, the charges had grown to 46 counts. They covered nineteen victims, according to the government news agency, and included ten counts of murder and eighteen of kidnapping, with other charges. The judge was Roger Claassen. The prosecutor was Advocate JP Marais, who had prosecuted serial killers before; the defense lawyer was Whitey Moruledi. Randitsheni pleaded not guilty, IOL reported.
The trial had been set down for two weeks, and Marais had lined up 113 witnesses. He needed three. On the first day the investigating officer testified. On the second, the court held a trial within a trial on the pointings-out that Randitsheni had made within days of his arrest, at which two police officers gave evidence. Moruledi then told the court that his client had instructed him not to allow any more witnesses, because they would incriminate him. Claassen agreed that no more witnesses needed to be called.
Marais told IOL that the case had started and finished in two days and that Randitsheni had made all the admissions he asked for, 89 in total. IOL called it the fastest serial murder trial in South African history. Labuschagne, whose unit had worked on the case, called the speed a "strange turn of events." Claassen convicted him on every count.
Sentence was passed in August 2009, and Sowetan and the government news agency reported it on August 19. Claassen ordered that Randitsheni was not to be considered for parole until he had served 35 years.
The judge said it was painful that most of the terror had been inflicted on innocent children. "I cannot find any mitigation to justify a lighter sentence," he said, as Sowetan reported.
The total number of life sentences was reported in two ways. The government news agency gave the sentence as 16 life terms plus 220 years, and the same figures appeared in a TimesLIVE list of South Africa's deadliest serial killers in 2014. Sowetan and IOL reported the total as 26 life terms. Sowetan's report on the reaction outside court gave yet another breakdown, with fifteen further life terms rather than sixteen. The figure of 220 years was the same in every report.
Marais called the sentence a personal best. The Ministry for Women, Children and Persons with Disabilities welcomed it the next day. The minister, Noluthando Mayende-Sibiya, said it should warn others that there were "severe consequences" for inflicting pain on women, and she thanked the investigating and prosecution teams.
There was celebration outside the court on the day of sentencing. Relatives of the victims told Sowetan they were satisfied with the punishment. Most of the victims had been between three and 13 years old, the paper reported.
The mother of one of the girls who survived said she was relieved that he had been "sent to rot" in jail. "I'm happy that I will no longer see him because the sight of him always brought pain in my heart," she said. A mother whose daughter had disappeared in 2006 said she was happy with the sentence but still wanted to know where her child was; she took comfort, she said, in his removal from the community so that people could live in peace. The grandmother of a three-year-old girl, one of the children in the case, called it "the happiest day of my life."
For some families the trial left questions open. Sowetan reported at the end of August 2009 that the area was traumatized and that some parents still did not know what had happened to their children, because the trial had not revealed it.
Randitsheni began serving his sentence at Thohoyandou Prison. On August 31, 2009, Sowetan reported that he had been found dead in his cell there. He was 45. Captain Mashudu Malelo, the Thohoyandou police spokesperson, confirmed the death, said an inquest docket had been registered and said the police were investigating. The death was reported as a suicide, but Sowetan noted that it was not yet clear whether he had taken his own life or had been killed. A later Sowetan report, in September 2009, said he had taken his own life. No appeal had been reported.
On September 11, 2009, Sowetan reported that the Modimolle municipality would hold a joint funeral the following day for three of the children. The three were a girl who disappeared in January 2005 at the age of seven, a girl who disappeared in January 2006 at the age of three, and a 13-year-old girl who was found dead in July 2006.
Patrick Shika, the municipal spokesperson, said the municipality had decided on the joint funeral and would pay for it. "As a municipality we felt it appropriate to assist the families to bury their children," he said. The families, he said, had accepted the punishment and wanted only to bury their children and move on.
Several points in the record of the case are not consistent from one report to the next.
The number of life sentences is the clearest. The government news agency gives a total of 16 life terms. Sowetan and IOL give 26. Sowetan's report on the families gives a breakdown with fifteen further life terms. The total of 220 years is consistent throughout.
The victims are described differently. The government news agency reported that of nineteen victims one was an adult woman and the rest were young girls. IOL described them as seventeen girls, a boy and a woman.
The size of the DNA screening differs between the government news agency's figure of more than 550 samples and IOL's figure of 543.
The exact day of sentencing is not settled: Sowetan and the government news agency reported the sentence on August 19, 2009, and IOL said he was jailed on a Wednesday.
His age was given as 45 in May 2008, in August 2009 and in the report of his death, but as 47 in the September 2009 report on the funeral.
The timing of his death is reported loosely. The Sowetan report of August 31, 2009, said he had been sentenced about three weeks earlier, although the sentence was reported on August 19; the September 11 report said he had died a week before. The exact date of his death was not given in the reporting. Whether the inquest reached a finding was not reported.
Not all of the missing children were accounted for. In May 2008, before his arrest, the police said three children were still missing, and in August 2009 a mother whose daughter had vanished in 2006 said she still did not know where her child was.
September 2004: The first two of a series of children go missing from the Modimolle area, according to the police.
June 2007: Police report eleven children missing over three years, seven found dead, and announce a reward of R250,000.
September 2007: Police await DNA results from blood samples taken from suspects.
January 29, 2008: Another man is arrested and charged in the case.
March 2008: Charges against that man are withdrawn after DNA tests come back negative.
April 2008: Police cordon off part of the Phagameng area and take blood samples from the men found there.
May 15, 2008: Sowetan reports an open letter from the Young Communist League to President Thabo Mbeki asking for an investigation.
May 16, 2008: Randitsheni is arrested, at Lwamondo outside Thohoyandou.
May 19, 2008: First appearance in the Modimolle magistrates' court on 17 counts, seven of them murder; prosecutors say he confessed to a magistrate.
July 11, 2008: Second appearance; case postponed to September 26.
August 2009: Two-day trial in the Modimolle Circuit High Court before Judge Roger Claassen; convicted on all 46 counts.
August 2009: Sentenced (reported August 19); no parole consideration for 35 years.
August 31, 2009: Sowetan reports that he has been found dead in his cell at Thohoyandou Prison; police register an inquest.
September 2009: The Modimolle municipality holds a joint funeral for three of the children.