A KwaZulu-Natal soccer coach pleaded guilty to raping a nine-year-old boy and has been jailed for 25 years.
The South African Police Services (SAPS) said David Mkhanyisi Ntshulana was sentenced this week in the Verulam Regional Court.
Police said the 59-year-old soccer coach and pastor pleaded guilty to raping the nine-year-old boy in September 2023.
KZN police spokesperson Colonel Robert Netshiunda said on the evening of September 16, 2023, the nine-year-old boy and his friend slept over at the coach’s home in the Mhlasini area.
“During the night the victim woke up with pain in his buttocks and also noticed that [his] buttocks were oily. His coach was naked next to him but pleaded his innocence,” Netshiunda said.
“The following morning the coach took the victim and his friend to a church where he was a pastor. The victim told his friend of his rape ordeal the friend advised him to tell his mother, and a case of rape was duly opened.”
Police said Ntshulana was declared unfit to possess a firearm.
In a similar incident, a part-time Durban soccer coach and Bible studies teacher was arrested connection with the rape of four minor boys in August this year.
The 57-year-old who opted to abandon his bail application, is accused of raping minor boys between the ages of 10 and 14, in the Waterloo area.
Before his arrest the man was assaulted by members of the community who were threatening to castrate him.
IOL News