VANDERBIJLPARK.- A group of women protested outside the Vanderbijlpark Magistrate Court, when a 39-year-old pastor appeared in court in connection with the rape of a 14-year-old teenager last week.
The pastor is accused of raping the young girl at his home in Muvhango, Bophelong in June this year.
This was his third appearance in court and the case has been postponed to next month, October. The postponement angered the women who were protesting outside court carrying placards.
The pastor, who is known to Vaalweekblad, is alleged to have raped the girl at his house and her mother caught him red handed.
Speaking to Vaalweekblad, the mother said they had been renting at the pastor’s yard when her daughter went to the toilet in the morning of the incident, she suspected something was amiss when the daughter took too long.
“I went to look for her and when I walked into the pastor house, I found my daughter naked in the toilet,” she told Vaalweekblad.
The child is said to have told the mother that the pastor had raped her and that this was not the first time that the pastor had raped her.
A case of rape was opened, and suspect was released on bail.
The protesting women at the court, last week, said that the suspect was not supposed to have been granted bail. They said the fact that the pastor apologized to the girl’s parents is enough evidence that he is guilty.
The apparently pastor sent a message to the girl’s parents, the details of which are unknown to Vaalweekblad, apologizing for his actions.
“We want him to remain behind the bars because he admitted guilt by apologizing,” they said.
“I believe the family knows that the bail (given) to the suspect doesn’t mean the case is over. The investigating officer keeps the family updated all the time,” said Vanderbijlpark SAPS Spokesperson, Sergeant Gertrude Makhale.
Investigations continue.