POLOKWANE – A 50-year-old pastor from Seshego will spend the rest of his days behind bars after the courts sentenced him to multiple life terms of imprisonment for rape.
Global life Changing Ministry Church pastor, Setabo Elias Molepo was earlier found guilty on five counts of rape and today (August 31) the Seshego Regional Court sentenced him to five life imprisonment terms, said Mashudu Malabi-Dzhangi, the spokesperson for the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) Limpopo.
The incidents happened between 2016 and 2017 and Malabi-Dzhangi said that both victims, aged 11 and 13 at the time, were parishioners at his church in Ga-Madiba Mashashane.
Malabi-Dzhangi said the victims are from poor families in the area and Molepo would provide them with food parcels. During the trial the court heard how he would visit the victims’ families and convince their parents to allow him to take the girls to the shops to buy them clothes. “He would rape them once they were alone,” she explained.
She said that in aggravation of sentence, the prosecution led by Advocate Andisa Mudau called the mothers of the victims, who both testified that after the rape ordeal their daughters were struggling to cope at school and were repeating their grades. “The victims are afraid of men and they have nightmares about the accused.”
The Victim Impact Report which was compiled by the social worker was also handed to the court. The report confirmed the evidence given by both the mothers.
Malabi-Dzhangi added that during sentencing, the presiding officer Mrs Annelies Swanepoel said that the accused abused the trust of the victims and their families. Swanepoel said that they looked up to him as a prominent member of society and as their pastor but he took advantage of their poor financial background.
“People now are reluctant to go to a place of worship as the very same pastors are abusing their position of trust,” she concluded.
Read more: Local pastor who raped girls to ‘deliver them from evil spirits’ sentenced to life in prison
Seshego pastor, 58-year-old James Devine Thubakgale from Devine Deliverance Church was earlier this year sentenced to three life imprisonment terms for the rape and assault of underage church congregants.
