NELSPRUIT – A 45-year-old man accused of raping his own 13-year-old niece eight years ago will know his fate on February 10.

It is alleged that he had disappeared for the whole night with the girl only to reappear the following morning.

The minor told her sister, who was 15 years at the time, how her uncle who was in possession of a firearm, had raped her, warned her not to tell anyone gave her R50 at Phola Trust.

Evidence heard in court was that the girls did not tell their grandmother because they feared that she would side with their uncle and keep quiet about the issue, but they called their mother who was not at home and told her about the incident.

A case was opened and the uncle was arrested. However, he denied ever touching his niece citing that some family members were against him. He even denied results which proved that his DNA were found on the girl’s body.

On January 22, the accused’s defence lawyer told the court he was approached by both complainants in 2006 to say they wanted to withdraw the case and wanted to handle it out of court because they family.

“The witness approached me shortly after they had testified that they wanted to withdraw the case. I then took them to the prosecutor and my advice was that as the matter had proceeded, it could not be interfered with,” said the defence lawyer.

He said it all happened in 2006 and the matter was postponed to further dates before the complainant’s wishes could be presented in court.

The chairing state prosecutor said there were no entries in dockets regarding the withdrawal, but referred the matter to be continued by Ms Eliza Du Plessis on a future date.

The matter was then postponed to February 10 for the presentation of a pre-sentencing report from social workers and the initial prosecutor will then take over the matter.

This newspaper also learnt that the accused was initially arrested on December 9, 2005 and released on bail but absconded his court appearances and a warrant of arrest was issued against him.

He was discovered in court while appearing with other suspects in connection with the robbery of the Chilean soccer team during the 2010 Fifa World Cup and had been kept in custody since then.

Outside court, Du Plessis said the state had a strong case against the suspect, especially because the victim was a minor.