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A 35-year-old self-proclaimed Apostle has been sentenced to six life terms following his conviction on four counts of rape and two counts of trafficking in persons.
Hlumelo Dywili was sentenced on Wednesday in the High Court sitting in Mbizana in the Eastern Cape after luring his victims via Facebook with the promise of jobs.
The National Prosecuting Authority says he was also sentenced to five years for “compelling and causing a person to witness a sexual offence.”
NPA spokesperson, Luxolo Tyali, said between July and August 2021, Dywili used Facebook and the Nkonjane Community Radio station to advertise his business selling products that used his photo as a logo.
“He used false testimonies from people claiming to have been helped by him,” he said.
Tyali said Dywili was a singer and lay-pastor from the Mthatha area "who purported to be on a mission to heal sick people and secure jobs."
He said one victim, originally from the Eastern Cape but living in Cape Town, had responded to his Facebook advertisement.
"Dywili promised her a job and purchased a bus ticket for her travel. Upon her arrival, he raped her in his motor vehicle at his home in Mthatha before isolating her at his base in Mbizana the following day. In Mbizana, he found two more victims who had also been lured to his base with promises of job offers."
Tyali said he kept the three victims, who are all from poor families and had become financially dependent on him, captive and repeatedly raped them on numerous occasions. In one instance he forced one victim to watch him rape the other two.
According to the NPA, his first victim was a 17-year-old girl whose parents had taken her to him for healing of her epileptic fits in 2020.
Dywili pleaded not guilty to the charges, claiming that the sex was consensual.
The Eastern Cape Director of Public Prosecutions, Barry Madolo, welcomed the sentence saying that it also highlighted and exposed incidents of trafficking in persons and related sexual offences occurring in rural areas.
