A man purporting to be a pastor has been jailed for 10 terms of life imprisonment plus 70 years after he was found guilty on ten cases of raping young children, sexual assault and exposing children to pornography.

Mandlelisa Mabhale (58) appeared in the Nquthu Regional Court on Wednesday, where it was heard that in September 2022, a child minder of four children, overheard a conversation regarding a pastor who had a reputation for violating young children.

The conversation caught the minder’s interest because the children she was looking after frequented the pastor’s house and would spend a time in his company. The children would also assist Mabhale when he was doing odd jobs of fixing electrical appliances. 

When 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. The children later confessed to their mother that the pastor had been raping them, and the matter was immediately reported to the police.

An investigation revealed that Mabhale had raped at least 10 children. The victims, all minors, informed detectives that the pastor would lure them to his rented room in the Ndidini area, where he would make them watch pornographic material and then rape them.

Mabhale was arrested at his hiding place at Luvisi area on September 22, 2022 and charged with rape, sexual assault and exposing children to pornography. Mabhale made his initial court appearance at Nquthu Magistrates Court. Several bids for bail were opposed successfully until the day of his sentencing.

“The matter was transferred to the Nquthu Regional Court, where the suspects pleaded not guilty to all charges. Commendable investigative work by the detectives was enough to convince the court to hand down the ultimate sentence to Mabhale,” remarked SAPS spokesperson, Constable Thenjiswa Ngcobo.

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