Cape Town - A Cape Town magistrate slammed a pastor for abusing his powers as a man of God when she convicted him of raping a member of his congregation, who had been a victim of another rape just months before .
Pastor Mthuthuzeli Mnaphu of the Christ Healing Fountain Church was found guilty on two counts of rape at the Parow Regional Court on Tuesday.
The 50-year-old was arrested last year after a church member accused the holy man of raping her since 2009, when she was 18 years old.
Last year Mnaphu opened crimen injuria charges against his victim’s fiancé, who took to the church’s website to expose his crimes.
Magistrate M Van Leeve said the victim befriended her attacker in 2008 when she joined his church.
“They had a good relationship and she revealed to him that she was raped in 2008 and he became protective over her and organised counseling for her,” she said.
“In 2009 he asked her to visit him at the Road Lodge Hotel near the (Cape Town International) Airport and she went there thinking it was part of the therapy.”
But the pastor raped her and threatened her not to resist him because he was a “powerful man of God”.
“Afterwards he said she should not tell anyone as he was a man of God and she will be cursed,” said Van Leeve.
In 2011, Mnaphu’s driver took her to his house in Pinelands.
“She testified he told her he wanted the angels to speak through her and that he would show her how it worked,” said the magistrate.
“The pastor then asked her to have sex with him and to suck his penis. There were always people in the house when the sexual assaults happened but they knew better than to interrupt the angel’s work.”
Van Leeve said although the victim was a single witness with only her fiancé corroborating her version, the court accepted it.
“Although emotional she was clear on how she had been groomed sexually by the accused,” she said.
“The complainant was a young woman who had just finished school and sought solace in the church… he abused his power as her pastor.”
Van Leeve then found the accused guilty and revoked his bail.
As some of his supporters burst out in tears, she added: “You are looking at life in prison, so you have to stay in custody.”
Daily Voice