The NPA in the Western Cape says the Khayelitsha Magistrate’s Court has denied bail to a pastor who appeared on various charges including rape and attempted murder.

The pastor was arrested for the alleged crimes that took place at a church in Khayelitsha where he was a minister between November 2022 and January of this year.

He has been remanded in custody until the 3rd of July.

Founder of Malihambe Women Outreach NPO, Nosipho Daniels, who was in court, says, “The court was not satisfied with all the reasons they’ve put before court. None of the reasons were actually making the court to hear of rather to grant the accused the bail. According to the Section 60 schedule 6 Act, the magistrate has outlined what reasons the court can give or rather bail that can be given to an applicant and those reasons were nowhere near to what has been presented to court.”

Meanwhile, a man has been sentenced to life imprisonment by the Madadeni Regional Court in northern KwaZulu-Natal for the rape of a 10-year old girl.

The court heard that the girl was raped while visiting her father in Osizweni outside Newcastle in 2020.

The 31-year-old accused helped an old woman brew traditional beer in a garage on the premises, where the girl’s father rented a room.

NPA Spokesperson, Natasha Ramkissoon-Kara, says, “In addition to the life sentence, the accused was declared unfit to possess a firearm. The court also declared him unsuitable to work with children and ordered that his name be entered into the National Register for Sex Offenders. The NPA welcomes this successful prosecution. This sentence is indicative of the seriousness with which the NPA views such crimes.”