SA PASTOR JAILED FOR BLAMING CAPE TOWN DROUGHT ON HOMOSEXUALITY
A South
African pastor who blamed the Cape Town drought on "wickedness and
homosexuality" has been given a 30-day prison sentence.
Oscar
Bougardt was found guilty of breaching a 2014 order banning him from making
anti-gay statements on social media at the Equality Court in Cape Town.
The court
heard how he made a series of remarks over three years, including in the
comments section of a South African LGBT website.
They
included one in response to an article on gay rights in Nigeria, where he
wrote, "to hell with homosexuals... their lifestyle is an abomination to
God... if I were president of my country, I would lock them in cages".
According
to South Africa's News24.com, Bougardt also said the Cape Town drought was the
fault of "wickedness and homosexuality and church leaders who fail to
preach the Bible and sodomite abomination".
Bougardt
said he had the constitutional right to express his views, Judge Lee Bozalek
said during sentencing.
Speaking
ahead of the trial, he told eNCA journalist Leigh-Anne Jansen the trial was not
against him but "against the word of God".
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