Brutal rapists jailed

A GANG rape in which three men violated a Port Elizabeth woman in front of her infant son at gunpoint was one of the most brutal cases he had ever heard, a magistrate said yesterday.

Magistrate Kenny Cooney sentenced two of the men to 25 years in prison each, while a third, who was a minor at the time, will serve 16 years behind bars.

Cheslyn Goliath, Jonathan Oortman and Lionel Masina, all in their 20s and from Barcelona in the city's northern areas, broke into the woman's granny flat in Morningside in June 2010 before raping her repeatedly in front of her three-year-old son.

A fourth man, Ronald Ruiters, was convicted of the housebreaking and robbery only, and sentenced to 10 years in prison.

The regional court was silenced yesterday as Cooney recapped on the details of that harrowing night.

The victim was just 27 at the time.

"In all my years on the bench, this is one of the most serious cases of rape I have come across," Cooney said. - Kathryn Kimberley