Married pastor gets 10 years for raping teenage congregant he ‘was in love with’ The charismatic founder of Freedom Grace Church, Pastor Tirafalo Boy Mmelesi is no longer a free man. The 35-year-old ‘Man of God’ will spend the next decade of his life locked up behind bars after he was found guilty of raping a 17-year-old congregant in the church toilets on 11 May 2022. Unimpressed with his claims that the sex was consensual and the underage teenager his secret lover, Molepolole Chief Magistrate, Gaseitsewe Tonoki described the Pastor as a wolf in sheep’s clothing.
Delivering a fiery speech Apostle Joseph would have been proud of, the Magistrate condemned wayward church leaders as a stain on society. “Society or people seem to sacrifice their money or even their bodies in the name of religion. People travel long distances and spend most of their time in religious gatherings just to quench their religious thirst.
It’s most unfortunate that some men masquerading as pastors come to unsuspecting believers for sexual justification. These pastors are angels of doom, society, especially women, beware of such wolves in sheep skin. “The accused knew of his power in his congregation, the trust they had on him.
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He used it to lure the complainant to his lion’s den while he knew the purpose of his calling was not religious. Pastors have great influence on their followers, the victim obeyed her pastor,” blasted Magistrate Tonoki. In mitigation, Pastor Mmelesi maintained there was no rape, insisting they were having an affair and the complainant agreed to sleep with him willingly.
“May the court have mercy upon me, I didn’t just commit the offence, we were in a love relationship,” he explained, speaking in quiet tones, a far cry from the thunderous lectures he’s famous for. Adding to Mmelesi’s nerves, his wife, who he married last December and who was his girlfriend at the time of the supposed affair, was sitting in court listening to every word. The revelation did not go down well with her, or the Magistrate.
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