ERIC MATOME KGOMO
eMalahleni: The Witbank Regional Court has on Thursday 11 March convicted a well-known pastor, Chris Derrick Gabisani Xaba (45) for rape and robbery.
“His conviction spirals from a shameful incident in which a 39-year-old woman from Vosman in eMalahleni who was hitchhiking at the time, became a victim under the hands of a man who was supposed to have displayed high moral standards towards her. The incident is said to have occurred on 29 December 2019, where this man, instead of helping the woman, raped and robbed her of her personal items at gunpoint,” said Brigadier Leonard Hlathi, Mpumalanga Provincial Police Spokesperson.
Hlathi said the court heard how on that fateful day, the man of the cloth, from a charismatic church in Vlaaklaagte near Kwamhlanga, offered a lift to a woman who was desperate to get to Nelspruit.
“As soon as she got inside the car, Xaba patronized her that he needed to collect other commuters who were heading to the same direction as theirs. Little did she know that the man she got a lift from, had an evil plot against her and that trouble was brewing,” detailed Hlathi.
He said Xaba then drove to a secluded bush at a certain farm near eMalahleni where he produced a firearm along the way and started behaving violently against the helpless woman.
“He furtherer threatened to kill her should she resist to cooperate with his orders. When the coast was clear for him, Xaba brutally raped the victim and robbed her of her personal belongings, including the clothes she was wearing at the time,” Hlathi explained.
Hlathi said the accused then fired a gun shot before leaving and left the victim stranded and unbelievable naked.
“The traumatized victim somehow managed to maneuver her way from the bushes until she reached a certain house where she was offered help and taken to the nearest police station as well. The matter was then reported accordingly and a case of rape was opened with an additional charge of robbery. At that time, the suspect was unknown, neither the registration number plate of the vehicle he was driving,” he said.
Hlathi said the accused was nabbed after when the tenacity of police in their investigation on the case eventually paid off in March 2020, when they made a breakthrough by arresting Xaba out from his hiding place in Kwamhlanga.
“During his arrest, police found him in possession of two stolen cars. They (police) also discovered that Xaba has another rape case which he committed at Kwaggafontein in December 2019 and he was in fact out on bail. They then presented these facts before the court in opposing his bail application and made the job easier for the state to succeed in having him remanded in custody until his conviction,” indicated Hlathi.
He said Xaba will be sentenced on Friday 19 March 2021 at the same court.
The police management in Mpumalanga have welcomed the conviction and consider it a good step in the right direction in the fight against Gender-Based-Violence.
“What Xaba has done to the victim, is cowardly and has put a shame to the high calling as he has exasperated the notion that some spiritual men cannot be trusted. We are elated though that at long last, he will feel the full grind of the law and become a good example to other men of the cloth who might dare to emulate his steps,” said Provincial Commissioner of the Police in Mpumalanga, Lieutenant General Mondli Zuma.
