Documentary record Bound by Fear
← Explore all cases
Conviction Christian institutions & contexts Other or denomination not established Ermelo, Mpumalanga, South Africa · 2023

South Africa: two life terms for a pastor who raped a fifteen-year-old fellow congregant

Record class

Core record

Evidence status

Convicted

Authority role

pastor within the Zion Christian Church, Ermelo

Organization

No organization assigned

Spiritual nexus

A teenage member of the congregation, silenced with a payment to her family.

  • Pastoral or clerical authority

Evidence structure

Proceedings

  1. 2023-08-14 · conviction and sentence

    Ermelo Regional Court, Mpumalanga, South Africa. In August 2023 the Ermelo Regional Court sentenced a fifty-one-year-old pastor to two life terms for two rapes of a fifteen-year-old girl of his own congregation committed in 2020; he had paid her brother fifty rand to keep silent.

Documented coercion mechanisms

  • pastoral standing over a teenage congregant
  • payment to the victim's brother to buy silence

Primary record

Sources

national newspaper court reporting verdict and sentencing report Sowetan: 'Two life jail terms for Mpumalanga pastor'.

National court reporting.

Related record

Related cases · Christian institutions & contexts

← Explore all cases