Rapist's sentencing postponed 71 times

AGAIN! A convicted child rapist’s case was postponed by the Nelspruit Magistrate’s Court on Wednesday for the 71st time in four years

Mpumalanga police's Lt-Col Leonard Hlathi said Andries Mfana Sibiya’s case was postponed to May 2.

“It was postponed because he claimed he was tired.” 

Sibiya, 55, a preacher, raped a 13-year-old girl between 1998 to 2007 and fathered three children with her.

He told the court during his trial that God had ordered him to father children so his family could, one day, go to heaven. 

He was found guilty on April 2, 2008 on nine charges of rape, and has been in custody since then.

During the past four years, sentencing was repeatedly postponed because Sibiya claimed to be ill.

Hlathi said he had on several occasions started hunger strikes shortly before his court appearances, and then claimed to be too ill to attend court proceedings.