A magistrate has likened a pastor who organised robbers to steal from his church to Judas Iscariot
Mohau Motsekwa, 43, was yesterday sentenced to 22 years imprisonment for conspiring to rob the Kingdom Community Church at Orange Farm in the Vaal.
"You are like Judas Iscariot because you went to the victims and pretended to console them while you knew you were involved," Vereeniging regional court magistrate Rita Willemse said.
She said the court had sent people believed to be angels to jail before and she did not see any reason why she could not do the same with Motsekwa.
Motsekwa, Lefu Hlapolosa, Mzwandile Kunene, Sifiso Mtshali and Portia Bulane, had planned how to rob the church.
On February 9 2008 Bulane, Hlapolosa and Mtshali went to the church and found two women and a five-year-old child sleeping. Bulane knocked at the door and the women opened for her. She told them that she was looking for a place to stay as she did not have one.
The women let her in and she was followed by Hlapolosa and Mtshali, who were armed with pick handles. They threatened the women and demanded cash before tying them and repeatedly raping them.
After raping the women, Bulane, Hlapolosa and Mtshali fled with a computer, music system, keyboard, cellphones, a video machine and cash from the church's safe.
Magistrate Willemse said about Bulane: "The complainant thought she was safe in her house. Her doors were closed but accused five went there and knocked on the door so the victim would open.
"Accused one and two entered. Accused five did not do anything when the women were raped."
Hlapolosa and Mtshali were each sentenced to 45 years on four counts of rape and robbery.
Bulane was sentenced to 22 years imprisonment for conspiring to commit the crime and for being an accessory to committing rape and robbery, while Kunene was sentenced to two years for being in possession of stolen property.
"I am not satisfied with the sentence. We went through hell because of these people, especially the pastor. We trusted him as a man of the cloth but he betrayed us," said one of the relatives of the victims.
She said some church members insulted them when they attended court proceedings, accusing them of lying about the pastor.
"I wish he had been sentenced to life so that he would not come out and hurt us," she said.
Robber pastor gets 22 years
A magistrate has likened a pastor who organised robbers to steal from his church to Judas Iscariot
Mohau Motsekwa, 43, was yesterday sentenced to 22 years imprisonment for conspiring to rob the Kingdom Community Church at Orange Farm in the Vaal.
"You are like Judas Iscariot because you went to the victims and pretended to console them while you knew you were involved," Vereeniging regional court magistrate Rita Willemse said.
She said the court had sent people believed to be angels to jail before and she did not see any reason why she could not do the same with Motsekwa.
Motsekwa, Lefu Hlapolosa, Mzwandile Kunene, Sifiso Mtshali and Portia Bulane, had planned how to rob the church.
On February 9 2008 Bulane, Hlapolosa and Mtshali went to the church and found two women and a five-year-old child sleeping. Bulane knocked at the door and the women opened for her. She told them that she was looking for a place to stay as she did not have one.
The women let her in and she was followed by Hlapolosa and Mtshali, who were armed with pick handles. They threatened the women and demanded cash before tying them and repeatedly raping them.
After raping the women, Bulane, Hlapolosa and Mtshali fled with a computer, music system, keyboard, cellphones, a video machine and cash from the church's safe.
Magistrate Willemse said about Bulane: "The complainant thought she was safe in her house. Her doors were closed but accused five went there and knocked on the door so the victim would open.
"Accused one and two entered. Accused five did not do anything when the women were raped."
Hlapolosa and Mtshali were each sentenced to 45 years on four counts of rape and robbery.
Bulane was sentenced to 22 years imprisonment for conspiring to commit the crime and for being an accessory to committing rape and robbery, while Kunene was sentenced to two years for being in possession of stolen property.
"I am not satisfied with the sentence. We went through hell because of these people, especially the pastor. We trusted him as a man of the cloth but he betrayed us," said one of the relatives of the victims.
She said some church members insulted them when they attended court proceedings, accusing them of lying about the pastor.
"I wish he had been sentenced to life so that he would not come out and hurt us," she said.
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