In announcing her judgment of finding a father not guilty of two charges of sexual assault, Magistrate Merlene Greyvenstein said that she is disgusted that parents put their children through such trauma when it comes to divorce.
On August 25, a father was found not guilty on the two charges of sexual assault that were laid against him by his former wife.
He plead not guilty to these charges on April 20.
The mother opened a case of sexual assault at Witbank Police, in her statement she claimed the father sexually assaulted their 14-year-old daughter.
The father was charged with rape and the alleged sexual assault of the 14-year-old daughter, in the same breath he was accused of sexually assaulting his 10-year-old daughter.
Over the course of three years the case played out in the B-Court of the Witbank Magistrates Court and then moved on to the regional court for trial.
During the early stages of court proceedings the case of rape against the father was withdrawn, the two charges of sexual assault however remained.
Numerous items of evidence were brought before the court including two letters written to the father by his two daughters, in the one letter the little girl wrote saying she did not know why she was unable to see her father and that their mother said they would not see him again. In another letter written two years later the daughter expresses how she misses her father and that she is now 12 and can make the choice for herself to see her father.
A final witness was called to the stand, Mr Christo du Preez, chairman of Mpumalanga Special Schools Rugby, and the head of department at WH de Klerk School.
He was questioned on his whereabouts on April 24, 2012 and was requested to provide proof of the accused father’s whereabouts on that day.
In a signed letter he wrote explaining that the father was at the school as one of the rugby teams had a league match which started at 14:00 and finished at 15:00, the father then remained at the school for the post match discussion as he was the assistant referee and the team’s coach, this ended at 16:30.
Furthermore Du Preez and the father produced the Z8 attendance register showing that they had both signed in that morning and both signed out late that afternoon.
In the father’s statement he claims that the accusations were orchestrated by the mother, the couple had been going through a divorce at the time.
The cross examination and non-corroboration of the daughters’ statements along with the evidence brought before the court, swayed judgement to that in favour of the father as he was acquitted of all charges.
“It is extremely disturbing dealing in incidents like this, these to and fro allegations with sexual violence in regards to divorce are highly upsetting and in the end it is the children that suffer from instances like this,” said Magistrate Greyvenstein as she pronounced the father not guilty.
ALSO READ:
Community up in arms after a rape of a minor
Rape victim jumps out of window to escape
