Byline: Refeloe Letsoisa
04 September 2023
The KwaMhlanga Regional Court sentenced a 46-year-old Good Shepherd Church pastor, to 55 years imprisonment after he was convicted of 4 counts of rape and 7 counts of sexual assault of his congregational youth members from 2012 to 2018.
John Philane Masilela portrayed himself as a prophet of God, and the pastor of Good Shepherd Church in Suncity KwaMhlanga.
Under the guise of keeping his victims from living immoral lives, the accused would pray for them by caressing and fiddling their private areas.
The pastor informed the victims that he could see their destiny and that God had commanded him to pray for them in that way.
Masilela also threatened them with dire consequences if they refused.
In court, the accused pleaded not guilty and claimed consent.
Regional Court prosecutor, Bianca Harmse led testimonies of seven victims, who told the court how Masilela would quote scriptures from the Bible and claim that for them to be protected from being with the wrong woman, he needed to pray for their private parts by touching or sucking them.
Some of the victims even broke down and became emotional when testifying.
The state submitted that the accused abused his power, as a pastor and used the victim’s faith in God and religion to break down any resistance they showed, to sexually violate the victims for his lustful pleasures.
Regional Magistrate, Merlene Greyvenstein found the accused to be a sexual predator amongst the youth of his congregation.
She found the accused to be a blatant liar who told his victims that bad things would come their way, should they not comply with his instructions.
The court found the acts of the accused to be disgusting and that he claimed to be a Christian, yet he saw no wrongdoing in touching or sucking their private parts to prevent them from immoral acts.
A presentence report detailing that the victims were impacted emotionally by their ordeal was presented in court.
The accused was sentenced to ten (10) years imprisonment on each of the four (4) counts of rape and five (5) years on each of the seven (7) counts of sexual assault.
The court ruled that four (4) of the sexual assault sentences should run concurrently with the rape charges since they involved the same victims.
The accused was also found unfit to own a firearm.
The National Prosecuting Authority welcomes the sentence imposed on the accused and commends the prosecutor and the investigating officer for delivering justice to the victims.
