The KwaZulu-Natal regional court has sentenced a 29-year-old self-proclaimed prophet to two life terms after he raped two young girls during an apparent ‘cleansing ritual’ in Kokstad in November 2017.
Lucky Eric Thulani Sipho Khumalo lured the girls, 15 and 16 years old, to his house after he “prophesied” over them.
Provincial police spokesperson, Colonel Robert Netshiunda, said Khumalo told the girls they were bewitched and they went to his house where he gave one of the girls a potion to drink.
“The other girl was taken by his assistant to a nearby river for a supposed cleansing. Khumalo proceeded to rape the first girl. When the assistant and the second girl returned, he sent the girl he had just raped to the river while he raped the second girl,” Netshiunda said.
The matter was reported to the police and the docket handed over to the Kokstad Family Violence, Child Protection and Sexual Offences Unit.
“Khumalo fled to Gauteng when he heard police were after him. He later travelled to Kwakhiliva on the KZN south coast where he hid for few a few days until police tracked him down,” Netshiunda said.
“Shrewd investigative work condemned him to prison for the rest of his life,” he said.
In another case, a Zimbabwean national, 29, was sentenced for rape.
Netshiunda said Clayton Mataya preyed on the young girl who was often home alone during the day as her parents worked.
“Clayton manipulated the girl’s situation and used to call her to his house after school and raped her. The mother took her for a medical examination and the doctor’s report confirmed that the child had been sexually violated repeatedly,” he said.
Netshiunda said the FCS Unit in Vryheid secured a life imprisonment sentence for a father, 39, who raped his 10-year-old daughter in Kodlomo in 2018.
IOL