MBOMBELA – The court case against the 45-year-old uncle accused of raping his own 13-year-old niece eight years ago was postponed to Wednesday (February 12).
The man briefly appeared in the Nelspruit Regional Court on Monday for his sentencing however the case was postponed for the social workers to present the accused pre-sentencing report in court.
On January 22 the accused defence lawyer told the court that he was approached by both complainants in 2006 to say they wanted to withdraw the case and wanted to treat the matter out of court because they were family members.
“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 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 absconds his court appearances and a warrant of arrests was issued against him. He was discovered in court while appearing with other suspects in connection with the robbery of Chilean soccer team during the 2010 Fifa World Cup and was kept in custody since then.
