Durban - A once respected member of the Msinga community has been convicted on six counts of raping four teenage boys.
Sibusiso Ndawonde, a traditional healer who used his status in the community to con parents into putting their young sons in his care, and then raping them, stood unemotional in the dock of the Pietermaritzburg High Court on Monday as Judge Piet Bezuidenhout found the evidence against him, particularly that of the victims, overwhelming.
The boys were raped in August last year.
The court heard that Ndawonde informed the elders of each boy's family that he had a "prophecy" that the families were experiencing problems because their sons were ill.
Ndawonde convinced the family of each of the victims that he had to take the boys to his home in Msinga where he would use traditional medicine and methods to heal them.
At his home, Ndawonde would talk the victims into entering his traditional practice room to be healed.
Each of the four was raped throughout the night over a period of two weeks by the traditional healer who told each one that this was the only way in which to heal and cure the "illness" and chase away the bad omens he claimed they had.
One of the victims, a 16-year-old, managed to escape and reported the rapes to his parents who filed a case with the police.
Ndawonde was then arrested.
He denied all the allegations against him.
However, Bezuidenhout found the victims to be credible witnesses and found that the State had proved its case beyond reasonable doubt.
The victim impact statements of the teens, which were entered into evidence in aggravation of sentence after Ndawonde's conviction on Monday, painted a grim picture of the pain and trauma the victims experienced and still endure a year later.
One of the teens said Ndawonde ruined his life.
"He made me his wife by having sexual intercourse with me. I always feel sick. I don't go to school any more because I have become a joke to people. I see myself as a nobody," the 16-year-old said.
Another victim said he cried all the time and continued to feel the emotional and physical pain Ndawonde put him through.
"I am unable to sleep. I have lost my appetite. I am constantly thinking about what that man did to me. I don't even know if I am still a boy after he abused me. He destroyed my life and I hope the court puts him away for the rest of his life," the teen said.
Argument in mitigation and aggravation of sentence was to resume on Tuesday.
Daily News