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Elias CHAUKE
A.K.A.: "The Highwayman Serial Killer"
Classification:
Spree killer
Characteristics:
Rape - Robberies
Number of victims: 5
Date of murders: October-November 2002
Date of birth: 1972
Victims profile: An
unidentified woman /
Confidence Ramonyathi / Another
unidentified woman /
Grany Lekala /
Beauty Ditshego
Method of murder: Strangulation -
Blunt-force trauma to the head
Location: Pretoria, Gauteng Province, South Africa
Status:
Sentenced to six life terms and a further 52 years imprisonment
on September 5,
2004
Serial Killer suspect pleads not guilty
By Zelda Venter - DailyNews.co.za
August 17, 2004
The Pretoria High Court
on Monday heard how several women who came to Pretoria to look for work
ended up being raped, strangled and robbed. In most cases, their
decomposed bodies were found next to busy roads in the city's suburbs.
A 32-year-old Rosslyn
man, Elias Chauke, is accused of the spate of killings and rapes which
occurred over two months during 2002. On Monady, he pleaded not guilty
to five charges of murder, four of rape and five of robbery. Chauke said
he could not have committed the crimes because, at the times they were
committed, he was not in that particular area.
The first victim was an
unidentified woman who was raped and murdered in Rooihuiskraal. Her
decomposed and naked body was discovered on October 7 2002, next to the
R28 highway in the suburb. Her body was covered with a car seat cover.
Confidence Ramonyathi,
an unemployed woman who left her home on October 8, 2002, to look for
work in Pretoria, was killed next. Her badly decomposed and half-naked
body was found nine days later, next to the N1 highway in the Waterkloof
Heights area.
The next body discovered
was that of another unidentified woman whose naked body was found on
November 12 of that year, next to the R21 in Monument Park.
Grany Lekala left her
home on November 13 2002, to look for work in the city after a man,
allegedly the accused, promised to help her find a job. Her half-naked
body was found the next day next to the R28 at Highveld Park in
Centurion. Her blouse was wound around her neck and a used condom was
found near her body, which was covered in a blanket. She too had been
strangled.
A close friend of Lekala,
Joyce Kabini, testified that she met Chauke in October 2002. He
approached her and asked her whether she was looking for a job. She took
his cellphone number and gave it to her friend, who was unemployed.
Lekala apparently phoned Chauke and later met with him. She was never
seen again.
Beauty
Ditshego was the last victim mentioned in the charge sheet. She came to
the city on November 14 2002, to shop. Her fully clothed body was found
the next day alongside the N1 in Newlands.
Serial killer smiles as sentence is read
Pretoria News
September 7, 2004
A man known as Pretoria's "highwayman serial killer"
smiled and took a drink of water after the Pretoria High Court sentenced
him on Tuesday to six life terms and a further 52 years imprisonment.
Elias Chauke, 33, was convicted of murdering five
women, of robbing three of them and of raping another one. The spate of
killings occurred over two months during 2002 in the Pretoria area.
The state claimed that he raped nearly all his
victims, but Acting Judge Khami Makhafola said the fact that semen was
found at some of the scenes did not necessary mean that he raped his
victims.
The father of two lured his five female victims
into bushes after offering them employment. Some of the victims died due
to blunt-force trauma to the head, while others were strangled. Most of
the bodies were decomposing when they were found.
His first victim was an unidentified woman who was
murdered in the Rooihuiskraal area. Her body was discovered in October
2002 next to the R28 highway. Her body was covered with a car seat cover.
Confidence Ramonyathi's body was found the next day
next to the N1 highway in Waterkloof Heights. Her body was badly
decomposed.
On November 12 2002 the body of an unidentified
woman was found next to the R21 in Monument Park. The body of yet
another victim, Granny Lekala, was found the next day (November 13) next
to the R28 at Highveld Park in Centurion.
Beauty Ditshego's body, the last victim before
Chauke was caught, was found on November 14 in Newlands, Pretoria. She
too, was covered with a car seat cover.
Makhafola said all these women were defenceless
females who tried to find work.
"In my view there are no mitigating factors. The
crimes were committed in a bizarre and gruesome manner and the victims
clearly suffered."
The judge said two women were still unidentified
and their families are obviously still looking for them.
"The court must send out the message that such
barbaric behaviour will not be tolerated," he said.
A police expert, Dr Gerhard Labuschagne, said
Chauke's behaviour was typical of serial killers in South Africa. As in
the other cases, he also used a promises of work to lure his victims
away.
Labuschagne said the chance of rehabilitating a serial killer was low.
He added that throughout the world there are no serial murder or serial
rape offender rehabilitation programmes.
Meanwhile the families of the victims gasped in
surprise when a relaxed looking Chauke asked the court for leave to
appeal against his convictions and sentences. The court will hear the
application later.
The family said they would never forgive Chauke for
what he had done. They were happy that he will go to jail for life, but
said it would not bring back the victims.
