MBOMBELA – A local man who stands accused of raping his niece has been granted bail, subject to the condition that he spends his time out on bail in Gauteng.
The accused is a golf caddy according to his legal representative, Mr Gabriel Mogakane. The suspect appeared in the Nelspruit Regional Court on Monday. He stands accused of raping his niece, who is a minor.
Last Friday Const Godfrey Mhlanga testified that the alleged rape was reported to the SAPS on May 21 last year. According to Mhlanga, the victim told her aunt, whom she is living with, that her uncle, the accused, had been raping her. “The alleged incidents took place during school hours. The victim did not attend school on some days, as she was instructed by her uncle to wait for a car to fetch her at her aunt’s house,” he said. “The victim reported being raped by her uncle more than once.”
Mogakane denied the victim’s absence from school and said he would prove that she had attended school on the days that her absence had been claimed. The accused’s release after a bail payment of R3 500 was suggested last Friday. When he returned to court last Monday, an amount of R4 000 was set. The magistrate, Ms Venessa Joubert said the accused had to move to Gauteng until finalisation of the trial.
An address was confirmed in Mamelodi, where he would reside with a relative. “You are not to contact state witnesses. No contact between the accused and the victim is permitted and he must not attend to her house or school.” The date of his next appearance still needs to be confirmed.
