A pastor accused of raping three members of his church claimed in court that police want him to be abused by other awaiting trialists.
|||A Limpopo pastor accused of raping three members of his church claimed in the Polokwane Magistrate's Court on Friday that police want him to be abused by other awaiting trialists.
He asked, through his lawyer, to be moved from the Mankweng police station to the Polokwane police station's holding cells. He said he felt unsafe in the Mankweng cells, where awaiting trial prisoners were kept.
Magistrate Janine Ungerer said it was up to the police to decide where to put him.
He is facing three separate charges of rape. They were laid by a 14-year-old girl, an 18-year-old from Polokwane and by a 20-year-old from Seshego, north-west of Polokwane
He has since claimed he had consensual sex with the teenager and that the other two cases were concocted by church members whom he had barred from attending his church.
Defence witness who testified on Friday claimed the victims were bitter because their church membership had been terminated.
The case continues on Monday, January 16, 2012. - Sapa