Pastor jailed for raping ‘demon-possessed’ child

A PASTOR, who claimed the child he raped was  possessed y a demon, has been sentenced to life imprisonment. “Everyday, when I think about what happened to me, I cry all day long.”

So said the pastor’s 12-year-old victim in a heart-wrenching statement, read out by state prosecutor Gerald Seethal in the Izingolweni Regional Court last week. The child was raped by her uncle (33), a man who was also a pastor in the community.

‘I hate him a lot. You have to stay there for the rest of your life. You are the last person I want to see in my life. Why don’t you die and make the world a better place,’ read the girl’s statement.

Magistrate Sylvia Mkhulisi handed the rapist a life sentence for the rapes he committed in 2012. The pastor pleaded not guilty, and blamed the child for fabricating the story. It’s also believed that the pastor claimed the child was  possessed by a demon.

According to evidence, the pastor returned from preaching at a tent revival event and  forced the girl to have sex with him. In the morning, when the child reported the incident to her grandmother,  the grandmother  threw away the condom the man had used and told the child not to report it.

A month later, the pastor raped her for the second time. Again, the condom was thrown away by the grandmother, and the girl was instructed not to report it as the uncle was a religious man. The grandmother also said if the incident was reported, her uncle would be arrested, and there was no money for bail.

The child overdosed on her grandmother’s medicine, and was taken to Murchison Hospital where she seen by a social worker.

Sergeant Lucas Sbonelo Mzila from the Margate Family Violence, Child Protection and Sexual Offences Unit, who was on standby at the time, was called. He interviewed the child, and arrested the pastor shortly afterwards.

In closing, Mr Seethal described the pastor as ‘self-serving to the highest degree’. “He (the accused) apologised to the court, to your worship, the police who arrested him, and he even apologised to me. All those that in his mind are the custodians of the power that decides whether he goes to jail for life, or whether he receives a lighter sentence… but he never apologised to the victim, to his brother or to his mother,” he said.

“It was through an attempted suicide that the truth was revealed, and the accused didn’t do it once, he raped the child twice. If he is a man of God, as he claims to be, truth, righteousness and love should be the cornerstones of his life.”

Mr Seethal said the record reflects that the child was so traumatised, she could not proceed in court. “The child broke down in tears and we had to take her for counselling.” He added that when the pastor took the witness stand he painted the girl as a liar, and portrayed her as the enemy. “He portrayed himself as the angelic pastor, who could do nothing wrong.”

Mr Seethal said the pastor abused his position of trust and authority and has destroyed a young girl’s life. He said unlike murder or assault with grievous bodily harm, where one can see the wound or one can visualise the pain, rape is something that goes to the soul. “Rape is something that stays with the victim forever.”