Survivor defies death threats to expose Thembisa’s alleged serial rapist

A survivor of alleged serial rapist, Sipho Lucas Phiri, has shared her harrowing account of how he brutally violated her and her sister at gunpoint.

She spoke to YNews on Tuesday, on the sidelines of Phiri’s brief appearance at the High Court sitting in Benoni.

The 37-year-old faces 145 charges, including 44 counts of rape, after allegedly targeting young women and girls, carrying out the gruesome rapes between 2018 and the time of his arrest in 2023.

The media has since been granted permission to broadcast and publish his name following attempts by Phiri’s legal team to have them barred.

Speaking with YNews, one survivor’s testimony has shed light on the harrowing experiences of Phiri’s alleged victims.

She recounted how Phiri, a Prasa employee at the time of her attack, presented himself as a trustworthy figure.

She says he offered her and her sister a ride home from Daveyton Mall one evening in December 2022.

After pulling into a secluded location, he then pulled out a gun and raped the sisters just metres away from a police van.

The survivor detailed Phiri’s threatening words to her following the incident, saying he threatened to kill her if she reported the attack.

“He told us that the moment we open a case, he’ll know, so there’s nothing you are going to do. The Prasa uniforms look so similar to a police uniform, so I believed him,” she told YNews.

The mom of two has described still grappling with the trauma of her ordeal, telling YNews she continues to experience fear when cars pull up beside her on the road.

And despite finding comfort in the support of her fellow survivors, who she’s described as sisters, she says many of them have struggled to attend court proceedings due to fear of re-traumatisation.

She’s praised the bravery of her fellow survivors who have come forward, ensuring Phiri’s arrest and prosecution.

The survivors have called for severe sentencing in the matter as a stern warning to would-be perpetrators.

Meanwhile, gender-based violence activists who picketed on the sidelines of the trial, say if the police had acted swiftly, some of his victims may have been spared.

“They took long. With one or two women, this could have been stopped. We don’t have to get to a certain number for a perpetrator to be caught,” Lifeline’s Makhosazana Thladi says.

The case has since been postponed to Thursday, the 5th of September.