GOGO (79) ACCUSES PASTOR OF REPEATEDLY RAPING HER

MBABANE – As cases of gender-based violence continue to increase in the country, the safety of the elderly is not guaranteed.  

This is because an elderly woman from an area not far from the capital city has claimed to have been repeatedly raped by a pastor who is known to her, while the police faced a challenge of transport to get to her residence to investigate the matter. The parties involved in the story and the exact location will not be revealed to protect the victim of the alleged rape.

Children

During a visit to the elderly woman’s homestead, she was found in the company of her two children who declared that they were currently staying with their mother to watch over her while police were still investigating the matter. The elderly woman stays alone in her homestead in the rural area. According to *Gogo Ellinah (79), she was allegedly first raped on February 17, 2021 by the man who is said to be a pastor in one of the churches in the area. The elderly woman narrated that she was asleep at night when she was awakened by a figure of a man in her bedroom. Gogo Ellinah further narrated that the man strangled her, but she tried to strangle the man back.

However, she purported that the man, who carried a knife, overpowered her, forced himself on her and raped her. She alleged that he asked where her money, which she was given by her children, was. Gogo Ellinah claimed that it was then that she recognised the voice of the pastor who she was familiar with in the area. The elderly woman alleged that the man went away with her cellphone. She alleged that he threatened to kill her if she ever told anyone in the area, and later disappeared into the night.

Neighbours

“On the following day, I told one of my neighbours who called the community police and the police were called,” narrated Gogo Ellinah. However, she said she got no help as the police allegedly did not act promptly, since there were issues of transport in the police service. She alleged that the community police engaged the man on the matter, who denied that he had raped and stolen from the elderly woman. Gogo Ellinah further claimed that last Monday, the same man arrived when she was asleep and raped her. She purported that she informed one of her neighbours who reported the matter to her children and the police.

“The police came last Wednesday to record statements and I was taken to the hospital for checkups,” narrated the elderly woman. She added that the man who, she claims sexually violated her, was also taken for questioning and was later released. “I am living in fear for my life because I do not know when this man may come back and do evil to me. I have never been with a man for 40 years since my husband died and now this man comes and violates me,” the elderly woman said in between sobs. She further expressed that she had lost hope in the justice system because the man who had allegedly raped her was moving freely in the community.

Accused

Attempts to get the man who is accused of the rape proved futile as this reporter did not find him where he is said to reside. One of the elderly woman’s children declared that she was currently taking her mother for counselling. Deputy Police Information and Communications Officer Inspector Nosipho Mnguni confirmed that the matter was reported to the police. Mnguni said the police were still investigating the matter. “We do not arrest to investigate, but investigate to arrest. If we do the former, we may arrest an innocent person and this may put government in trouble,” she said. The deputy police mouthpiece assured that the police were acting on the matter and would ensure that justice was served.

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