Accused rapist denied lenient sentence plea in Pretoria Hotel minors’ case

The NPA has rejected a lenient sentence plea by a 45-year-old man accused of raping two minor girls, aged 11 and 13, at a Pretoria hotel.

The man, who faces two counts of rape and kidnapping, appeared in the Pretoria magistrate’s court on Monday morning.

He had applied to the NPA for a plea bargain.

A plea bargain is the negotiation process between the accused and the prosecutor in which they agree that the accused would plead guilty to the charge brought against him in exchange for a compromise or leniency in his prosecution.

NPA regional spokesperson Lumka Mahanjana said the senior prosecutor rejected the proposal after going through the proposal.

“After the senior prosecutor went through the proposal and the docket, a decision was taken. The basis upon which the attorney brought the application was not in line with the docket; therefore, the proposal was rejected,” she said.

The case was postponed to November 23 for a guilty plea.

The families of the girls were emotional during the court appearance of the accused.

The mother of the 13-year-old said she was still having a hard time dealing with the incident.

“During the consultation, they told us he was asking for mercy. The accused wanted the charges of kidnapping to be dropped against him. As the families of the affected children, we do not feel sorry for him because what he did to our children was heartless,” she said.

She said as the accused was set to plead guilty to the charges, she felt relieved.

“As the trial is about to start, I was scared that the girls would have to come in and testify. That terrifies me because they are children and the trial would require them to relive that night.”

The man was arrested last year November and remains in police custody.

ALSO READ: Driver killed in east shooting

He was accused of kidnapping the girls from Lotus Gardens near Atteridgeville before taking them to a liquor store. He then booked a room at the Pretoria Hotel where he allegedly raped both girls.

At the time of his arrest, he was out on parole for a previous rape conviction that happened in 2012.

The case sparked an intense public outrage when a video of the man speaking on the crime levelled against him went viral. He was held by the patrons and security officers of the hotel after the 11-year-old child managed to escape from the room they were booked in.

She knocked on other patrons’ rooms at the hotel, saying that they were raped and that the other child was left in the room with the man. In the video, the man can be seen wearing pants smeared with what appears to be the minors’ blood.

In his first appearance in court in November last year, the accused indicated to the court he wanted to plead guilty to the charges against him.

In his second appearance on December 7, he abandoned bail; however, he then again applied for bail in January. The bail hearing was postponed due to an outstanding DNA report.

At the time, the girls’ families were disappointed by this and said they felt the case “was not going anywhere”.

Do you have more information about the story?

Please send us an email to editorial@rekord.co.za or phone us on 083 625 4114.

For free breaking and community news, visit Rekord’s websites: Rekord East

For more news and interesting articles, like Rekord on Facebook, follow us on Twitter or Instagram