47-year-old pastor from Edenburg in the Free “`State“` was sentenced to two counts of rape and one count of sexual assault before Edenburg Regional Court on Friday 23 May 2025.
A case of rape was opened at Edenburg Police Station in 2022 after a 12-year-old victim reported to her father that she was raped and sexually assaulted by a local pastor in Edenburg.
The victim was staying with the accused. It emerged that the pastor was raping the victim in the absentia of his wife, who worked night shifts.
The rape incidents started in 2019 and during the school holidays of the year 2022 victim informed her father. A case of rape and sexual assault was opened and assigned to Detective Sergeant Isaac Ntsepe of Trompsburg Family Violence, Child Protection and Sexual Offences Unit.
His thorough investigation led to the pastor being convicted and sentenced as follows:
Count One—Rape—sentenced to life imprisonment
Count Two—Rape—sentenced to life imprisonment
Count Three—Sexual Assault—Sentenced to five years.
Count two and count three to run concurrently with count one. The accused was further declared unfit to possess a firearm.
The Free State Provincial Commissioner of the Police, Lieutenant General Baile Motswenyane, welcomed the sentencing and encouraged victims of abuse to report cases immediately.