Meet the man who spent a decade in prison for a rape he didn't commit

Durban - Despite spending more than a decade behind bars for a rape he never committed, Njabulo Ndlovu bears no grudges against the victim.

Ndlovu, 35, was released from Durban’s Westville Prison on Monday after a full bench of the Pietermaritzburg High Court acquitted him of a 2005 rape of a pregnant woman.

The court upheld the appeal against his conviction and sentence and condemned the magistrate who had presided over his case.

The high court ruled that Magistrate Mike Lasich had made a number of “unfortunate interjections” during the trial and that he had brazenly intervened and made leading statements to assist the State’s case and discounted evidence, such as DNA analysis, which absolved the accused of the crime.

The rape victim, who by law cannot be named had allegedly been raped by more than 10 men in uMlazi. Five men, including Ndlovu, were accused of the crime. Three men were acquitted during the trial in 2005 due to a lack of evidence, while Ndlovu and another man were handed life sentences. 

FREE MAN: Njabulo Ndlovu spent 13 years in prison for a rape he did not commit. He was released from prison on Monday after the Pietermaritzburg acquitted him of the crime. Video: Siphelele Buthelezi

The high court found that Ndlovu, who was 19 and a second year law student at the University of Durban-Westville (University of KwaZulu-Natal) at the time, had not been linked to the rape as there was no evidence or DNA to linking him to the crime. Ndlovu had always maintained his innocence.

Of the five accused who were brought before the court for the rape, only one remains in jail. That accused was positively identified as the man who confronted and stopped the victim before she was raped.

Speaking to the Sunday Tribune on Thursday, the uMlazi man said he wanted to move on with his life. While in prison, he obtained his law degree.

“I went through the worst experience which I don’t wish upon anyone,” he said.

“It was hard,” he said of his prison experience.

“But I had to accept reality, calm down and heal myself while I was in prison. I am grateful that my innocence has been proven. Right now I want to build my life and be a better person. I don’t hold any grudges, what happened is in the past and I have moved on from it,” said Ndlovu.

Ndlovu said he was proud that he had completed his law degree this year, which he obtained through the University of South Africa (Unisa).

“Studying in prison was not easy, the environment is not study friendly but I had to find a way. If I was not arrested, I would have been far with life,” he said.

“But it doesn’t matter now, I am here. My wish is for all magistrates to do fact checking before coming into conclusions to avoid such mistakes, I ask them not to attach feelings but use evidence," he said.

Ndlovu's friend and lawyer who brought the case to the high court, Andile Magubane, said they intended to sue the minister of justice for damages. 

SUNDAY TRIBUNE