Hefty sentence for KZN rapist priest

The Nquthu Regional Court recently sentenced a 34-year-old man to five terms of life and 30 years in prison for the multiple rapes he committed in the Mondlo area, in northern KZN, between October 2020 and August 2022.

According to Natasha Ramkisson-Kara, the spokesperson for the National Prosecuting Authority in KZN, the man was a priest and traditional healer in the area, and he met all three of the complainants at a church service, on separate occasions.

Ramkisson-Kara says the man informed the victims – aged 15, 17 and 18 – and their parents that they were bewitched and needed cleansing. He told them that only he would be able to cleanse them.

“When the complainants were taken to his home, he told the parents to leave them there.

“The accused then employed the same modus operandi with all three complainants in that he would tell them that they needed to have sexual intercourse with him to be healed.

“Before raping them, he made them smoke snuff, then rubbed them with a ‘muthi’ all over their bodies. He told them that they would not be healed if they told anyone what he had done. He raped two of the complainants more than once,” says Ramkisson-Kara.

She says the man’s actions eventually came to light when one of the complainants reported the matter to the police.

This resulted in the other two girls coming forward.

Ramkisson-Kara says in court, the state led the testimonies of all girls and their first reports.

In addition, the state handed in a victim impact statement compiled by the complainants and facilitated by court preparation officer Victoria Griffiths.

“In her statement, the one complainant said that the incident caused her much trauma because she had been raped several times by the accused.

“She also said that she had trusted him as he was a member of their church.

“Another complainant said that the incident traumatised her to the extent that she had to leave school. She said that she could not concentrate at school,” says Ramkisson-Kara.

The man was sentenced to five terms of life and 30 years imprisonment. The court ordered that his name be added to the National Register for Sex Offenders, and he was declared unfit to possess a firearm.