The Kwamhlanga Regional Court in South Africa has sentenced a Mpumalanga Pastor to 55 years in prison, for sexually abusing teenage boys and young men for nearly eight years, reports say.
The 46-year-old Pastor, John Philani Masilela, who was sentenced for multiple counts of sexual-related offenses including rape, sexual assault, and child pornography, got ten years imprisonment on each of the four counts of rape, and five years for each of the seven counts of sexual assault.
Each count of rape will be coupled with a count of sexual assault, and the remaining three counts of sexual assault will run separately, as ordered by the court.
Mpumalanga Police Spokesperson Col. Donald Mdhluli said it was heard in court how the sexual predator pastor took advantage of the boys and abused them for nearly eight years.
The abuse occurred between 2012 and 2020, and the survivors were aged between 15 and 20 years at the time pastor Masilela’s crimes were exposed, and he was eventually arrested.
The Police Spokesperson said Masilela often used his respected position in the church to lure the boys, then he would force himself on them.
Mdhluli also revealed that the sicko Masilela often convinced the survivors to send him nude photos of them.
“According to the record, the pastor would call his victims to the church and say that he wanted to groom and teach them about manhood. When they came to church, he would tell them to take off their clothes, and he would molest them sexually,” he said.
“It was revealed in court that he would convince his victims that they were specially chosen. As a result, the victims trusted him as their pastor and church leader, as they thought this was how things were done in church,” he said.
However, in spite of the pastor’s warnings that his victims must never say a word to anyone, one of the boys, aged 16, had enough and decided to speak up.
In May 2020, the boy approached his parents and opened up about his unpleasant experiences with the pastor over a long period of time. It was at this point that the other boys started to speak up, including the brave boy’s elder brother, who was also a victim.
Investigations carried out by the Family Violence, Child Protection, and Sexual Offences Unit (FCS) at KwaMhlanga showed that at least six other members of Masilela’s congregation experienced sexual abuse from him, and as the number of victims grew, so did the cases against him.
Mpumalanga Provincial Police Commissioner Lt-Gen. Daphney Manamela said the sentence would hopefully send a message to potential abusers to beware of the consequences of indulging in such acts. He also encouraged victims of abuse to always speak up so that perpetrators would be arrested and made to face the full wrath of the law.
“We hope that the sentence will send a strong message to those who abuse children that it is just a matter of time before they are caught. This should encourage other victims to break the silence and report the perpetrators. What disturbs the most is the fact that in this instance the young ones were victimised by someone who was regarded as a person who was supposed to shield them as a pastor,” he said.
Manamela also commended the investigation and prosecution teams for a job well done.
