The Kokstad Regional Court has on 31 May 2023, sentenced Lucky Eric Thulani Sipho Khumalo, a 29-year-old self-proclaimed prophet-cum-traditional healer to two terms of life imprisonment after he was found guilty on two counts of rape.
Khumalo lured two girls aged 15 and 16 years old to his house after prophesying that someone was bewitching them.
The girls went to his house in Bongweni on 11 November 2017 where he instructed one of them to drink a certain concoction while the other girl was taken to the river by his assistant for supposed cleansing. Khumalo remained behind with the other girl and raped her.
When the assistant came back from the river, he was again sent back to cleanse the girl that was just raped, opening space for the prophet to continue his raping spree on the other girl.
The Kokstad Family Violence, Child Protection and Sexual Offences Unit (FCS) pulled out all stops in investigating the matter and when Khumalo realised that the police were hot on his heels, he fled to Gauteng Province.
He committed other crimes in Gauteng and later fled to Kwakhiliva in the South Coast where he hid for few days before the police pounced on him. Shrewd investigative work condemned him to prison for the rest of his life.
