"Pastor" to wed own daughter, mother of his children
Walter Ka Nkosi
Nelspruit - The lawyer of a self-proclaimed pastor who fathered three children with his own daughter said the court would not be doing any justice by convicting the man because his daughter had agreed to become his wife.
The lawyer pointed out that the 50-year-old pastor, who cannot be named to protect his daughter's identity, had given the girl's mother R2 500 as lobola.
He said neither the girl nor her mother were made to do anything against their will.
The man's family listened quietly to the proceedings when he appeared in the Nelspruit Regional Court on Monday.
The State is calling for the pastor's conviction, accusing him of having raped his daughter.
In his testimony, the father said God had come to him in his dreams to tell him that he should fulfill his promise as a "descendant of Benjamin".
He testified that he slept with his daughter so that she could "see the kingdom of Heaven" when she died.
He said he had never heard the word "incest" until he appeared in court and that he'd never seen the word in his own Bible.
He said a man like him would not sleep with his daughter unless it was for religious reasons.
The accused quoted many Bible verses in an attempt to back up his plea of innocence.
He said that in the Bible, Lot impregnated his two daughters, but was not held responsible.
He said the Bible was clear and that when he wanted to communicate with God, he would go to the mountains and pray for two days without water or food.
The man has pleaded not guilty to incest and seven counts of rape.
He is accused of sexually abusing his daughter between 1998 and 2006, since she was 13 years old. She is now 22 years old and has three children aged seven, four and three. The man also has three sons with his wife.
His daughter dropped out of school in 2003, when she was in Grade 8.
According to the girl and her mother's evidence they were both made virtual prisoners in their house in KaNyamazane outside Nelspruit where their father ran a "church" and preached about the end of the world, or Armageddon.
The father was arrested in February last year.
Paternity tests have been done to confirm if he is the father of his daughter's three children.
"Pastor" to wed own daughter, mother of his children
Author