A 36-year-old pastor accused of raping a 43-year-old woman and killing her three-month-old daughter has been arrested in Diepsloot, Gauteng.
Residents reportedly recognised him on Saturday afternoon at a tavern where he went to shelter from the rain. He was allegedly wearing a disguise.
Community members had seen his pictures and warnings shared on social media and local WhatsApp groups. They alerted police, who arrested him.
Gauteng police spokesperson Colonel Dimakatso Nevhuhulwi said the pastor was arrested after an intensive investigation by detectives and crime intelligence. “He was found hiding in a backroom in a Diepsloot informal settlement, with injuries,” Nevhuhulwi said.
Nevhuhulwi said three suspects have now been arrested in the case. The other two are the pastor’s two wives. They appeared in the Atteridgeville Magistrate’s Court on Friday.
The mother told Sowetan that the pastor contacted her earlier in the week of the attack. She said he claimed he had a bad dream about her and her children. He told her she needed prayers and a water cleansing ritual.
She said she had known the pastor for almost four years. She had trusted him before to help her baby, who had an illness and cried a lot. She said the baby seemed to get better after his help.
On Wednesday, the pastor allegedly came to the family’s home with his second wife. The mother said they walked with her and the baby to the Hennops area.
She said she was told other people would join the ritual, but nobody came. She asked why they had gone so far from home, but got no clear answer.
The mother alleges she was told to put the baby down, undress and kneel while they prayed. She said the pastor’s wife then poured water over her.
She said the pastor tied her hands and feet and covered her eyes. He then allegedly led her towards a river, leaving the baby with his wife, and raped her there.
“When I attempted to scream, he threatened to kill me and my child and said no one would know,” she said.
The mother said she was told to stay seated while the pastor and his wife walked away with her daughter. She alleges the pastor said his wife would take the baby and her other children to Pretoria.
She also alleges he threatened to come back to cut out her tongue and gouge out her eyes. She said she managed to untie herself and ran to the road for help.
When she went back with the people who helped her, the pastor, his wife and the baby were gone. The mother said the ordeal had left her badly traumatised.
The pastor’s wife was allegedly arrested later that afternoon. She then took police to a shallow grave in the Hennops area where the baby’s body had been buried.
“We trust that the criminal justice system will be allowed to take its course and that the family will ultimately find some measure of justice,” Nevhuhulwi said.
The baby is expected to be buried on Tuesday.
Source: this article is based on reporting by TimesLIVE. Image: TimesLIVE. Written with the help of AI and published by the Tzaneen Voice News desk. See our Editorial Standards.
Kgomotso Maake covers news and politics for Tzaneen Voice. Kgomotso reports on government, Parliament, municipalities, courts, crime and service delivery across South Africa, with a close eye on how national decisions reach towns like Tzaneen and the wider Limpopo province. Stories are written in plain English and focus on the facts: who made the decision, what it means, and what happens next.