Pastor sentenced for raping several women
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The NPA has successfully managed to secure a heavy prosecution for a 34 years old serial rapist who was also said to be a pastor at Jehovah Jireh Church.
Lumka Mahanajana from the NPA said that Frank Tshabalala’s first victim was a 14 years old minor who came in contact with Tshabalala on June 8th, 2018 while on her way home in Blybank, Carletonville when he passed a group of three men.
After passing, Tshabalala who was amongst the men followed her, grabbed her hand, and took her to a football ground where he assaulted her with an open hand, threatened her with a sharp object and proceeded to rape her several times.
Almost a years later on January 22nd, 2019, he met his second victim, a 26 years old woman from Carltonville whom he lured from facebook under false presences of having a job opportunity for her. He arranged for a meeting with her where he raped and robbed her of her belongings.
“Thereafter, Tshabalala started using the complainants’ cellphone and contacted her relatives promising them job opportunities. He was then arrested a few days later on 26 January 2019, after a relative of the complainant agreed to meet with him in Carletonville in a police trap.”
Sadly for the victims, he was arrested and released on R 5000 bail.
That was not long until he trapped his third victim exactly a year later on January 26th, 2020 using the same modus operandi where he promised a 23-year-old woman employment on Facebook and asked to meet with her. When they met at Gateway Mall in Carletonville, they then went to Fochville, when they arrived at Fochville taxi rank, Tshabalala walked with her to a nearby veld where he raped her.
That was enough for the court to revoke his bail but was only arrested six months later in June 2020.
Presiding over the case, Judge Anna Granova gave him two life terms for 2 counts of rape, 15 years direct imprisonment for statutory rape, 10 years for theft and one-year direct imprisonment for assault.
