Six people who were arrested after being found naked together with 11 children in a church in Sondela outside Rustenburg briefly appeared in court, North West police said.
The members aged between 21 and 85 appeared before the Rustenburg Magistrate’s Court on Monday and were remanded in custody. The accused: three males and three females were arrested after being found naked along with eleven children aged between four and twelve.
“The only individual who was found wearing clothes was a 34-year-old female church leader. Subsequent to preliminary investigations, all children between the ages of 4 and 12, of which six are boys and five are girls, were removed from the house and handed to social workers for intervention, and ultimately placed under the care of other family members,” said Brigadier Sabata Mokgwabone, the North West police spokesperson.
Mogkwabone said on the day the church members were arrested the leader behaved strangely and seemed mentally unstable. “According to information received, the house that was used as a church was partially burned on Friday by the church leader who is also one of the accused persons,” he said.
The community members called the police on Friday after they suspected that something wrong was happening in the church.
According to locals, the female pastor allegedly told church members on Wednesday (June 1) to take their clothes off as she had a vision that Jesus was coming back. They had a long prayer service at night and people were not allowed to go out.
Mokgwabone said the church leader was charged after she was discharged from hospital on Sunday 5 June 2022. He added that the six suspects appeared at the Rustenburg Magistrate’s court on Monday, and the case was postponed to June 13.
They face charges of crimen injuria and contravention of Section 22 of the Criminal Law (Sexual Offences and Related Matters) Amendment Act.
Source: News24, IOL, The South African