OSHAKATI – A 15-year-old girl is pregnant after allegedly being raped by a pastor on two separate occasions, this paper has learned. 

The man of cloth presides over a Pentecostal church in northern Namibia.

Oshana police head of criminal investigations deputy commissioner Fredrick Ndjadila confirmed the incident. 

The accused (34) was arrested last month at his house in Oshakati, and was denied bail when he made his first appearance in the Oshakati Magistrate’s Court last month.

The matter was postponed to 20 September 2024 for further police investigations.

Narrating the ordeal, Ndjadila said the accused is a pastor at a church under the banner Disciple of Christ Church in Ongwediva, where the victim was allegedly one of the congregants. 

“During 2023, the accused, after a choir service, offered the victim a hike with the pretence of dropping her home, but instead drove in a different direction,” he said. 

He added: “He [allegedly] raped her in a vehicle, and then dropped her afterwards.”

The second incident allegedly happened in March this year when the accused again offered his victim transport after a church service. This incident, as described by the police, was a carbon copy of the first one. 

“He parked his car, and [allegedly] raped her in the back seat.  He dropped her home,” Ndjadila added. 

The crime coordinator added that when the victim started showing signs of pregnancy, she notified her parents.

“She told her parents that she has been raped by a pastor on two different occasions,” he said.

Meanwhile, a 27-year-old woman who spoke to New Era on condition of anonymity, alleged she was also raped by the same pastor in 2020.

“The rape incident took place when I was a member of the church,” she said.

She narrated that the pastor always promised her marriage while he continued having sexual intercourse with her.

“One day, the pastor invited me to his house. He raped me and impregnated me,” she claimed. 

The rape victim said she inform the accused that she is pregnant, however, he denied sleeping with her. I had an abortion and left his church,” she said. 

She urged her fellow women to be careful whenever they are associating with pastors because “nowadays pastors are not reliable”.

According to people familiar with the pastor’s modus operandi, they described him as a sexual predator who preys on his congregants. 

This year already, in the Omusati region, a pastor of another Pentecostal church was arrested after allegedly raping three learners at his home in the Onkandi village in Etayi constituency.

Still in the Omusati region, the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Namibia (Elcin) pastor was also arrested for allegedly raping an 18-year-old girl on different occasions.

-fhamalwa@nepc.com.na