Ndudi Anyim
A South African clergyman, Pastor Chris Xaba, has been arraigned for alleged rape and robbery of a 39-year-old Vosman woman.
The 45-year-old Xaba, pastor of a charismatic church in Vlaaklaagte near Kwamhlanga, was arraigned at Witbank Regional Court on March 11.
It was gathered that the accused had offered to give the woman who was desperate to get to Nelspruit a ride, but along the way, he drove to a bush, threatened her with a gun and had unlawful canal knowledge of her.
The Provincial Commissioner of the South African Police Service in Mpumalanga, Lieutenant General Mondli Zuma, who spoke on the incident said: “ As soon as she got inside the car, Xaba patronised her that he needed to collect other commuters who were heading to the same direction as theirs.
“ Little did she know that the man she got a lift from, had an evil plot against her and that trouble was brewing. Xaba then drove to a secluded bush at a certain farm near Witbank where he drew out a firearm along the way and started behaving violently against the helpless woman.
“ He further threatened to kill her should she resist to cooperate with his orders. When the coast was clear for him, Xaba brutally raped the victim and robbed her of her personal belongings, including the clothes she was wearing at the time. In order to scare the daylights out of her, he fired a gun shot before leaving her stranded.
“ The traumatised victim somehow managed to manoeuvre her way from the bushes until she reached a certain house where she was offered help and taken to the nearest police station. The matter was then reported accordingly and a case of rape was opened with an additional charge of robbery.”
Speaking further on the arrest, Zuma said the accused was unknown as at when the case was reported to the police, neither the registration number plate of the vehicle he was driving.
He said the tenacity of the police in their investigation of the case eventually paid off as in March 2020, they made a breakthrough when they sniffed Xaba out from his hiding place in Kwamhlanga.
“ During his arrest, police found him in possession of two stolen cars. Police also discovered that Xaba has another rape case which he committed at Kwaggafontein in December 2019 and he was in fact out on bail when he repeated same crime, ” the police chief added.
The police management in Mpumalanga have welcomed the conviction stating it is a good step in the right direction in the fight against Gender-Based-Violence.
” What Xaba, who will be sentenced on 19 March 2021, has done to the victim, is cowardly and has put a shame to the high calling as he has exasperated the notion that some spiritual men cannot be trusted.
“ We are elated though that at long last, he will feel the full grind of the law and become a good example to other men of the cloth who might dare to emulate his steps, ” Zuma said.