VIRGINIA BEACH, Va. – The trial for a South African man convicted of raping multiple women is facing his charges in a Virginia Beach courtroom.
Lesiba Simon Matsoake
Lesiba Simon Matsoake, 41, was charged with sexual battery, abduction with intent to defile, and sodomy by force in Virginia Beach in March 2014. The crimes stem from two sexual assaults in 2004 and one sexual assault in 2006.
He was found guilty of sexual battery for the first sexual assault back in 2015. His case will now go to the Grand Jury for the three felony charges.
In prior court testimony, one of the victims told the court that she was approached by Matsoake in a Norfolk parking garage after a night of drinking.
She said Matsoake told her that he would drive her home, but instead he took her to an industrial park on Thurston Ave. and forced her to perform sexual acts.
"I thought he was going to do what he wanted to do, then kill me," she said.
According to the Virginia Beach Commonwealth Attorney's Office, Matsoake went to South Africa in 2007. They say it took until 2012 to extradite him back to the United States but he had to respond to rape charges in North Carolina before police could arrest him for the Virginia Beach charges.
Court documents obtained by News 3 show that the Governor of Virginia had to make an executive agreement with the Governor of North Carolina to interstate extradite Matsoake to Virginia Beach. The letter shows that the Commonwealth paid for Matsoake's extradition to the United States in the first place.
In August of 2014, Matsoake was convicted of rape in Dare County and sentenced to 20 to 25 years in prison.
