Serial rapist suspect claims his 11 alleged victims were his girlfriends

Nhlanhla Xaki told one of the women he loved her during a spree of sexual assault over four years in Johannesburg, prosecutors say

Police investigated the alleged sex crimes after a young man came forward and claimed that Xaki had raped his then girlfriend (AP)

A suspected serial rapist charged with sexually assaulting 11 women, told a court that they were all his girlfriends. Nhlanhla Xaki even told one victim he loved her.

Xaki insisted the sex was consensual and happened when he had been in a relationship with each of the victims.

But a court in the South African city of Johannesburg heard that he attacked most of the women in a similar pattern.

After forcing his way into their homes or dragging them off the street, he robbed them at knife or gun point and raped them.

Xaki, who allegedly committed the crimes over four years, claims he is innocent – despite that DNA evidence is stacked up against him, prosecutors said.

Among the string of alleged rapes, he is accused of attacking a woman with a knife or gun and dragging her into a yard where he and an accomplice took turns to rape her.

Xaki also broke into the home of three cousins in the same area and demanded money from them, the Saturday Star reported.

He later took one of the young women with him at gunpoint elsewhere in the area and raped her there, the victim said, after ransacking the cousins’ home.

Elsewhere, he knocked on the door of another victim’s home in Tembisa and threatened her with a knife before demanding money.

He pushed her on to her bed and raped her after taking a small amount of cash. He also noted down her mobile phone number so he could stay in contact and said he “loved her”.

Xaki broke into another home in Phomolong but was disturbed when the female home owner discovered him, papers filed by prosecutor Gertrude Market show.

He ransacked her home before raping her – after holding her hostage with a screwdriver. He later made her wash herself in a bath before he fled the scene.

Xaki was investigated after a young man came forward to police and claimed that Xaki had raped his then girlfriend, the mother of his then two-month-old baby.

The man, who cannot be identified for legal reasons, told Johannesburg High Court that Xaki had forced the woman into an empty yard by a man who, like the accused, had a scar on his lip.

He later witnessed Xaki rape his landlord’s girlfriend, who was pregnant, at his home. He ran to her aid after he heard the young woman’s screaming during the alleged rape.

Questioned by Xaki’s lawyer, the young man said it was unlikely Xaxi could have been in a relationship with his then girlfriend because she was with him and his family most of the time.

Prosecutors expect to conclude their case in the coming weeks. The trial continues.