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The man was arrested at his hiding place in the Luvisi area in KZN.
Picture: iStock
A 58-year-old man masquerading as a pastor has been sentenced to ten life terms and 70 years in jail after he was found guilty of raping young children, sexual assault and exposing children to pornography.
Mandlelisa Mabhale appeared in the Nquthu Regional Court on Wednesday, where the sentence was handed down.
Sentence
Police spokesperson Constable Thenjiswa Ngcobo said Mabhale was arrested at his hiding place in the Luvisi area on 22 September 2022.
“Mabhale made his initial court appearance at Nquthu Magistrates’ Court. His several bids for bail were opposed successfully until the day of his sentencing.
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“The matter was then transferred to the Nquthu Regional Court, where the suspect pleaded not guilty to all charges against him. Commendable investigative work by the detectives was enough to convince the court to hand down the ultimate sentence to Mabhale,” Ngcobo said.
Crimes
Mabhale’s crimes came to light in September 2022 when a child minder of four children overheard people talking about a pastor who had a reputation for violating young children.
Ngcobo said the conversation caught the minder’s interest because the children she was looking after frequently visited the pastor’s place and would spend a considerable amount of time in his company.
“The children would also assist Mabhale when he was doing his odd jobs of fixing electrical appliances.”
Arrest
Ngcobo said as soon as the child minder arrived home, she asked the four children if Mabhale had done anything to them, but they did not open up to her.
He said the children later confessed to their mother that the pastor had been raping them, and the matter was immediately reported to the police.
“Investigation into the matter ensued with the urgency it deserved, and investigations uncovered that Mabhale had raped at least 10 children.
“The victims, who are all minors, informed police detectives that the pastor would lure them to his rented room at Ndidini area, where he would make them watch pornographic material and then rape them,” Ngcobo said.
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