Phathutshedzo Innocent Sikhubu, a 40-year-old pastor, was taken into custody on suspicion of raping a 14-year-old girl at a church in Sibasa, Limpopo.
The case was rescheduled for July 30 in order to conduct additional investigations and profile the rape-accused man of the cloth, who appeared before the Thohoyandou Magistrate’s Court on Monday.
The pastor remains in jail until his next court appearance.
In the wake of the July 9 incident, Sikhubu was taken into custody after he allegedly summoned the minor to the church premises.
The victim found the pastor alone in the church office when she got there. He locked the door, made the victim perform sexual acts, and then repeatedly raped her.
The pastor ordered the victim to keep quiet about the crime.
On July 19, the victim bravely told her family about the ordeal, prompting an immediate notification to the police.
The family violence, child protection, and sexual offences unit opened a case of rape and launched an investigation. On July 20, the police arrested the suspect.
Police officers arrested for theft
In the meantime, three members of the SA Police Service — two officers and a general cleaner from the Modimolle police station in the Waterberg district of Limpopo — made a brief appearance before the Modimolle Magistrate’s Court on Monday on allegations of stealing and thwarting the course of justice.
The case was postponed to July 25 for a formal bail application.
A 50-year-old cleaner and two warrant officers, aged 55 and 49, are accused of an incident on July 14 when a delivery truck transporting pallets of washing powder lost control on the R101 Road close to Modimolle.
The police officers allegedly used a marked police vehicle to load the stolen cargo during the ensuing chaos, and the general cleaner was later implicated in the crime.
They were arrested, and some of the stolen items were recovered as a result of a joint investigation by the Modimolle local criminal record centre and the provincial anti-corruption unit in Limpopo.
