A 60-year-old self-proclaimed prophet of an apostolic church in Kwekwe, Zimbabwe has allegedly r*ped and impregnated two congregants who have since given birth.
According to Chronicle ZW, Lawrence Gwaza appeared before Gweru Regional Magistrate Morgan Nemadire facing three counts of r*pe. He was remanded in custody till June 10 for continuation of trial.
According to reports, one of the victims had gone to the pastor after failing to conceive for 10 years in her marriage, only to be impregnated by the pastor.
“Your Worship l didn’t force them to have sexual intercourse with me, but l proposed to each of them and they both agreed to have sexual intercourse with me. On the issues of pregnancy l don’t think I’m the father,” said Gwaza in his defence.
It was also revealed that one of the women was impregnated twice while the other was impregnated once.
Speaking about the incident in court, one of the women, a 37-year-old teacher revealed that out of respect for her pastor and “the scriptures,” she gave herself to Gwaza on several occasions between August 2002 and July 2003.
The complainant said Gwaza visited her village under Chief Negove where she resided before she converted to his church.
“At first Gwaza invited me to an evening prayer together with three other congregants and told me that l was being used by the devil so he wanted to remove the spirit that was in me. He told me that he was going to use his manhood to drain the evil spirit which was in me and he took advantage that l had faith in him as my pastor and he forced me to have sexual intercourse with him,” she said.
The second witness said she was raped while at Gwaza’s residence in Zvishavane in 2008.
The witness, who was failing to conceive, allegedly converted to the accused’s church seeking spiritual healing.
“I was in a marriage for more than 10 years but failing to conceive and the pastor told me that he was going to help me to have a baby. He invited me to his house to pray for a pregnancy, and I had sexual intercourse with him several times until I got pregnant,” she said.
The court heard that between August 2002 and July 2003, as the complainant fellowshipped with the accused, Gwaza had s*x with her without her consent on many occasions.
she later gave birth to a baby girl.
“On the second count, during the year 2008, the accused called the complainant into his bedroom and had sexual intercourse with her without her consent and she gave birth to a baby girl again,” said Andrew Marimo, police prosecutor said.
The matter came to light when the complainant joined another church and testified during a church service what happened to her.
SHARE THIS