Benoni pastor sentenced to two life terms for rape of children

The NPA said the incidents took place between 2020 and 2021 when the children were aged between three and nine years old

Lucky Mfanivele Magagula raped three children of his church Photo: NPA

A 36-year-old Benoni pastor has been sentenced to two life terms plus 25 years in prison for raping three minor children of his Etwatwa church in Barcelona, Ekurhuleni, and sexually grooming others.

The Pretoria High Court sitting in Benoni Magistrate’s Court, sentenced Lucky Mfanivele Magagula for rape, exposing children to pornography, sexual assault, exposing his genitals to children and sexually grooming six minor children, aged three, four, six, eight and nine- years old.

National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) spokesperson Lumka Mahanjana said the judge ordered that Magagula’s name be added to the national register for sexual offenders and that he be declared unfit to possess a firearm.

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This is after Judge Jay Monyemangeni, found him guilty of 3 counts of rape, 5 counts of exposing children to pornography, 6 counts of sexual assault, and 4 counts of exposing genitals to children and sexual grooming on 05 August 2022.

There’s no price on a woman’s grief

Mahanjana said Magagula was a Pastor of Itshe Lengumbi Church, in Barcelona, a small community where all his victims reside.

“The 3-year-old minor was a neighbour to Magagula when he raped her in February 2021. She had gone to his house to play with her relative, who was also related to him. After the incident, he confessed to raping the child during a family meeting.”

“He raped the 8 and the 9-year-old minors, and further sexually assaulted, and sexually groomed them together with 3 others between 2020 and 2021 when they would go to his house for choir practice and bible study,” Mahanjana said.

She said this was reported to the police, after a brother of two of his victims, saw his sisters play and undress, the brother then reported what he saw his siblings do to his grandmother.

“When the grandmother enquired with the 4-year-old minor she confessed and told her that was what the pastor was doing to them. The grandmother told the parents of the children, who then apprehended Magagula and took him to the police station. He was then arrested on 11 February 2021.”

In aggravation of sentence, Advocate Juliet Makgwatha told the court that Magagula was a pastor in the community, and the children trusted him.

“He was in a position of trust; he opened the church to help the community, instead, he betrayed that trust and violented children in the most gruesome manner.”

In delivering his sentence, Judge Monyemangeni agreed with the state and said, “the children were robbed of their childhood, Magagula exposed them to something that will affect them for the rest of their lives”.

The Director of Public Prosecution Advocate Sibongile Mzinyathi applauded the prosecutor’s work, the court and the police investigator, adding that he hoped the sentence would send out a strong message that crimes against children and women would not be tolerated.

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