Summary
Name:
Sylvester MofokengYears Active:
1995Status:
Class:
Mass MurdererVictims:
12+Method:
ShootingNationality:
South AfricaSummary: Mass Murderer
Name:
Sylvester MofokengStatus:
Victims:
12+Method:
ShootingNationality:
South AfricaYears Active:
1995Date Convicted:
September 17, 1997“The gunshot fucked up my hand, so I cannot write anymore.”
— Sylvester Mofokeng
Sylvester Mofokeng was born in 1972 in South Africa. By his teenage years, Mofokeng already had a criminal record. His previous convictions reportedly began in 1983, when he was about 14 years old. His record included theft, robbery, vandalism, illegal possession of firearms and ammunition, prison escape, attempted murder, and murder.
Before the 1995 murder spree, Mofokeng was already serving life imprisonment plus 70 years for murder, attempted murder, and robbery. On March 23, 1995, he escaped from Diepkloof Prison after a prison soccer match. Reports state that he jumped from a prison truck and ran through gates that had been left unlocked.
After escaping, Mofokeng remained free for several months and committed a series of violent crimes in Johannesburg, including murders, robberies, housebreakings, attempted murder, and firearm offenses. His case later became connected to South Africa’s prison-security problems during the 1990s.
On March 23, 1995, Sylvester Mofokeng escaped from Diepkloof Prison while serving life imprisonment plus 70 years for earlier convictions, including murder, attempted murder, and robbery. The escape happened after a prison soccer match when he jumped from a prison truck and ran through unlocked gates.
After escaping, Mofokeng committed a series of violent crimes in Johannesburg between April and June 1995. He was later convicted of 12 murders, along with theft, housebreaking, robbery, attempted murder, and illegal possession of firearms and ammunition. The murders were committed by shooting.
Mofokeng was later arrested, but he escaped again in August 1996. Reports state that he got a gun from a visitor and used it to force guards to release him. Police later shot and seriously wounded him during his rearrest.
On September 17, 1997, Mofokeng was found guilty at the Johannesburg High Court. He was convicted of 12 murders and nine other charges. Judge Labe described the murders as extremely cruel and sentenced him to 10 life terms plus 145 years in prison.
The case became one of South Africa’s known spree-killing cases from the 1990s. It involved a prison escape, multiple shootings, robberies, and one of the longest prison sentences reported in South Africa at the time.
