“You show that you are a letter from Christ, the result of our ministry, written not with ink but with the Spirit of the living God, not on tablets of stone but on tablets of human hearts.”              – 2 Corinthians 3:3

I realize I owe you all an update and I promise you will get one soon. I am currently working with a new group of students doing Restorative Justice in a prison called Drakenstein. I have neither the time nor energy to sit down and filter my experiences into a coherent update, so instead I will bring you something better.  Heres a testimony of a man named Leeroy. He went through our Restorative Justice class two years ago and now assists in Drakenstein, helping us to do the course.

I have typed this exactly as he wrote it.

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My story – Leeroy, servant of the Lord. After reading this I hope you shall understand why I love Jesus so much and why I only want to please him. After reading this I hope you shall understand why I want to be the greatest husband and father in the world. After reading my story I hope you shall understand why I want others to grow in the lord and to know him better and better. Finally, after reading my story I pray that you shall understand my desire that the lost will be saved; because to be lost and not know it is the same as being blind.

I grew up in a loving home. Not only my mother but everyone mature enough took care of me in that house. Back then we were about 5 families living in one house with our grandmother as the pillar of the family. My mother and her children, her sisters and their children and my aunt who passed away before I was born left 5 children behind. Some of us would sleep on the ground, other would share the beds. Eventually as the years passed by, some moved out while some stayed.

My mother worked as a clearer at Lord Chales Hotel for 12 hours a day and that was after she was a teacher at a crèche (Day-Care center). It was during those days when she worked at the hotel that I started to get out of hand. At that time my mother and father were no longer together. My father stayed in Temperence Town and it was quite a distance away from our house.

So my dad was never around and I know today that he never wanted to be a part of my life. I can still remember when I would go on weekends to visit him he was never around when his mother (my granny whom I love) or one of his girlfriends would take care of me. Like any child I worshiped the ground he walked on. He was quite a catch and good looking, therefor he was a womanizer. Back then he drove a BMW that was cool and he was liked by almost everyone in their rather small town. I can still remember that when I would visit him almost everyone liked me because of him; they even called me by his name.

To be honest, I cant remember if he had taught me any lessons in my life. My mother was my rock through all those years.

The road which eventually lead to prison started when I was still young. Today I still cant remember why but my crime started when I stole money from home for Gatsbys (A ridiculously large sandwich). As silly as it sounds I did steal to buy fast food. It escalated to stealing foo ditems at the shop, not that there wasn’t food at home. Soon I smoked ciggarettes and kruie. That was enough until I started dagga (Marijuana) and eventually Tik (Meth) and Mandrax (No known U.S. equivelent, its a powder that you smoke with weed that shuts off parts of your nervous system for a few minutes).

Throughout all these experiences my mother tried her best to discipline me and have me stop using drugs but her job consumed most of her time and she had many kids to deal with. As soon as I got addicted I got involved in heavy crimes to support my addiction. In 2006 I was admitted to a rehab for a month but as soon as I got out I got hooked again. As I became popular amongst the gangsters I started to get involved in pushing drugs and smuggling. Soon, I involved myself in pimping and selling women for money. At that time my friends were all 28 gangsters (The 28’s are a very dangerous prison gang) and it became my desire to become one as well.

Only God knows how the next part happened. I got arrested for murder and aggravated robbery. I committed dozens of horrible crimes however I did not commit this crime. Guess where the crime was committed? At the very place where I used to sell women out of. I was so angry but at the same time confident that I would be released for I hoped they would realize that it was not me.

Days, weeks, months and years went by and I never got released. I was framed along with my fellow accuses (for a long time I thought that they knew who had framed us or had themselves committed the crime). Up to this day I still do not know who did it. One of the witnesses confessed that they were paid/bribed to give false testimony. I still dont know the motive of the people who framed us. Maybe I did something to their family members for I was an active criminal.

So I became a 28 gangster inside of prison. For the first time in my life I felt lonely and confused. I had a lot of friends in prison but in here, its everyone for themselves. I had to stand by myself and it brought a great sense of loneliness over my life.

I ended up being born again through my lord and savior Jesus Christ but I was still afraid to tell the gangsters therefore I tried my best to conceal my conversion but it ended up being impossible. The other guys in my room were very committed to the fraternity therefore if it means being me for forsaking the gang, so be it. The section where I slept was called the butchery for a reason; we were known for stabbing each other.

During all this as I mentioned above, I was still fighting for my innocence in court. Our case ended up in High Court (like supreme court) and the media made a field day out of it. Our families had no money for lawyers therefore the state gave us free legal representatives. The witnesses were skillfully trained to frame us. There was no physical or material evidence against us.

Still I was confident that I would be found not guilty because I didn’t commit this crime. the highest criminal court could not protect me against whoever was framing me and I was found guilty of both murder and aggravated robbery and the court sentenced me to 20 years imprisonment.

Maybe you are asking yourself right now, how did I make it until now knowing I am innocent? There was a time of my life when I was saying “I will get you one day and then I will return to prison for a murder I did commit.”But by the grace of God I was able to forgive them and the Lord began to heal me. I also pray today that they may get to know Christ as I have.

I trust that the truth will come out one day. But if I look at what the lord has done in my life I could boldly say that although I am not proud of being in prison, I do not regret being here because I have met my savior in this place.

Another part of my testimony includes my beautiful son Tyrique. I hope that one day God will help me to tell that part of the story. He turns 8 this year which means I was 17 when he was born.

Today, I’m finishing my third and final year in bible school at the end of the year. I’m a leader amongst my brothers here in prison and I’m faithfully doing ministry work for the Lord. I’m preaching and teaching the word of God in prison. My prayer is that my life will be a revelation of Gods love and Power.

I also pray that God will bless me with a wife who will love me for who I am despite my past and imprisonment. I dream of a God fearing wife because I want to raise my children in the fear of the Lord. Why do I speak about this? I believe our nation lacks young men and women who dream of God fearing marriages. I want to leave a legacy behind where my wife and I were known for our God fearing marriage.

Finally, the devil thought he knocked me down, he thought I was destroyed, he thought when he got me framed that I would never rise to my feet again. But he got it all wrong. Out of the chaos and destruction he caused in my life, God is raising a warrior who’s purpose is to destroy the works of the devil in the name of Jesus.

– Leeroy, servant of Christ Jesus.

 

When asked “Do you deserve to be here, even though you didn’t commit the crime you were sentenced for?” Leeroy responded with a simple “Yes”.