Sipho Thwala

Sipho Mandla Agmatir Thwala is a South African rapist and serial killer who was convicted in 1999 for the murders of 16 women and 10 rapes. He was sentenced to 506 years in prison. Thwala was known by the moniker the Phoenix Strangler.

Early life Sipho Mandla Agmatir Thwala was born and raised in KwaMashu.

Crimes Thwala began his year-long rape and murder spree in 1996 in South Africa's KwaZulu-Natal province. His modus operandi was to lure local women into accompanying him through the sugarcane fields of Mount Edgecombe near the town of Phoenix with the promise of employment as domestic workers in nearby hotels. Once they were deep within the cane fields, Thwala would attack the women, bind them with their own undergarments and then rape and strangle them to death.

On 31 March 1999, the High Court in Durban found Thwala guilty of 16 murders and 10 rapes and sentenced him to 506 years in prison.