A regional court in Oudtshoorn has sentenced a pastor to 54 years in jail for three counts of rape, three counts of indecent assault, sexual assault and 26 charges of child pornography.
Eric Ntabazalila, spokesperson for the National Prosecuting Authority in the Western Cape, said the accused cannot be named because the complainants are his family members, but said his name will be entered into the national register for sexual offenders.
The pastor is said to have indecently assaulted and raped a 13-year-old girl on different occasions in 2003. The attacks took place at his house, office, and church. The complainant reported the matter to the police in 2018.
He also sexually assaulted and raped his 14-year-old adopted daughter and was convicted on 26 counts of child pornography after downloading images from the internet. He denied that the girls in the images were those of people under 18 years.
But expert witnesses testified that the girls were indeed children under the age of 18, which led to the accused admitting that he is addicted to pornography.
“We condemn any form of violence against women and children. We hope this sentence sends a stern message to other would-be rapists and abusers of children that the courts will do all in their power to send them to jail for a very long time,” said advocate Nicolette Bell, director of public prosecutions in the Western Cape.
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