A 33 year old man convicted of raping six women during a series of housebreakings in Umzimkhulu in 2022 has been sentenced to six life terms in prison, South African police said.
The Umzimkhulu Regional Court sentenced Tenes Hassan on 30th September 2026 after finding him guilty of six counts of rape. He was also sentenced to an additional eight years in prison for housebreaking.
According to Colonel Robert Netshiunda, a spokesman for the South African Police Service in KwaZulu-Natal, Hassan targeted women who were alone or staying with their children.
In all six rape cases, the 33 year old Hassan broke into the houses where women were staying by themselves or with their children, demanded cellphones and money before raping them.
The attacks took place between January and December 2022, with Hassan targeting his victims mostly between 2 and 3 in the morning, police said.
Detectives from the Kokstad Family Violence, Child Protection and Sexual Offences Unit gathered evidence that ultimately linked Hassan to all six cases through DNA analysis.
Netshiunda said Hassan’s name would be entered in South Africa’s National Register for Sexual Offenders.
The same court also handed down two other sentences in separate sexual offence cases.
A 45 year old man was sentenced to life imprisonment for raping his 5 year old niece in the Gowan Lea policing precinct on 28 December 2025.
Police said the child had been playing at a neighbour’s house when her uncle called her to his home. Her brother followed her but was chased away before the man raped the child.
In another case, a 19 year old woman was sentenced to 20 years’ direct imprisonment after being convicted of raping her 9 year old neighbour in the Ibisi area.
According to police, the woman called the child to her room, instructed her to undress and sexually assaulted her with her fingers.
Netshiunda said the convictions reflected the work of investigators in pursuing sexual offence cases and bringing perpetrators before the courts.
All three convicted offenders will have their names entered in the National Register for Sexual Offenders, police said.
