A priest has been arrested for allegedly kidnapping and raping a 15-year-old girl in Itireleng informal settlement near Laudium, Pretoria.

The 25-year-old man was arrested yesterday around 1am after allegedly kidnapping the girl on the weekend and repeatedly raping her, police spokesperson Sergeant Ann Poortman said today.

The teenager’s sister sent her to a tuck shop around 11.30am on Saturday. While she was there she saw the priest who told her to go to a shack in the area.

The girl’s family attended the man’s church and he was believed to be close friends with the girl’s father, Poortman said.

When the girl walked to the shack the priest allegedly followed her, raped her and locked her inside.

When her father returned home and noticed she was not home yet her family opened a missing person’s case at the police station.

“The man [priest] assisted the family to search for her and later went back to the shack and repeatedly raped her,” Poortman said.

On Monday around 9pm he told her he would release her on condition that she go to a woman’s home.

Upon her arrival at the woman’s home she was supposed tell her that she had gone to her friend’s house in Mamelodi and needed someone to accompany her home safely.

After her family questioned her, the girl told them she had been kidnapped and raped by the priest, Poortman said.

A kidnapping and rape case was opened on Tuesday morning. The man was arrested yesterday.

He appeared in court today.

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Stew-Peed. :/