By Palesa Matlala
- The teenager went to the Dobsonville house to charge a cellphone because local community transformers had issues during the weekend.
- A video on social media shows the young girl naked on a table while a woman questions the accused man.
Warning: This article contains details of alleged sexual abuse involving a child.
A 13-year-old girl was allegedly kidnapped and raped by a 56-year-old church deacon over the Easter weekend.
The attack happened in Dobsonville in Soweto.
About 100 homes in the area have no electricity because of transformer issues. The man would let neighbours use his house to boil water, cook, and charge their phones.
The teenager lives across the street. She went to his house around 7pm to charge her cellphone while he was having a party.
People on social media shared a video showing the teenager lying naked on a study table. She looks confused. There is an office chair next to her with what looks like blood on it.
In the video, a woman shouts at the man and accuses him of raping the high school learner. The man asks for his cellphone.
Neighbour Phakalime Mkhasimbe said he used to look up to the man.
“Tshepo is good with economics. He understands it and can explain the markets in the simplest form for everyone to understand,” said Mkhasimbe. “He was a respectable man and as a young man growing up in the township I looked up to him.”
Mkhasimbe said the man was always popular with women and drove a BMW in the 1990s.
Pastor Thandanani Savhasa from the Apostolic Faith Mission strongly criticised the abuse.
“It is inhumane, it is evil. It is just heinous, it is a betrayal of trust, it is an abuse of position and power,” said Savhasa.
The pastor said church leaders want the police to deal with the crime.
The man is also a member of an ANC branch in the area.
Pictured above: Protest outside the court.
Image source: Supplied
