EASTERN CAPE REV. SENTENCED TO 15 YEARS FOR RAPE
Mthatha Regional Court has sentenced Methodist Church in Africa Reverend, Bandile Mgoduka (61), to 15 years imprisonment after convicting him on a charge of rape a statement from the NPA spokesperson in Eastern Cape Luxolo Tyhali said on Friday. Tyali said, the court heard that on the night of 14 March 2021, Rev. Mgoduka invited his then-girlfriend and her friend to his mission house in the Qokolweni Area, in the district of Mthatha.
He offered them food and liquor. In the middle of their binging, he picked up a fight with the girlfriend and chased her away. He locked the door and put the keys in his pockets and told the victim, then aged 51, he had long wanted to have sex with her. A struggle ensued between the two and ultimately the reverend overpowered and raped her. Afterwards, he ordered her to leave.
Two days after her ordeal, the victim opened a case at Ngangelizwe Police Station. She testified that she did not report on the following day because her body was aching and she could not drive herself to the police station. The J88 submitted in court also corroborated the extent of injuries she sustained during the incident. In his defence, the reverend denied ever raping the victim but claimed he repelled her advances to have sex with him. He claimed she sustained the injuries as she was falling all over the place because she was drunk.
Prosecutor Fanalekile Kandile prayed for the prescribed minimum sentence of life imprisonment, but the court found that circumstances were justifying a deviation. Magistrate Shylock Ndengezi told the packed court that he considered the advanced age of both the perpetrator, who is a first offender and the victim, as a mitigating factor. He accepted the defence’s argument that liquor had played a role in the commission of the offence.
Welcoming the sentence, Eastern Cape Director of Public Prosecutions Barry Madolo said the case should serve to deter other men who abuse their positions in society to perpetrate gender-based violence. The DPP commended the prosecutor and the investigating officer for securing the conviction under trying circumstances, where the victim’s state of sobriety was called to question.
