Child rape accused in a daze

THE TRIAL of the man accused of kidnapping and raping two young girls in his shanty in Madiba Square in 2015, had to be postponed again in the Northern Cape High Court yesterday as the accused appeared to be in a daze.

The case had been postponed until yesterday for the presentation of a psychiatric report.

The accused, Moses Monnapule, 45, collapsed in the dock on Monday and had to be taken to hospital for medical treatment for low blood pressure.

He was discharged from hospital at around 10pm on Monday night.

Monnapule is accused of luring two girls, who were aged six and eight at the time of the incident in June 2015, from their homes and kept them overnight inside his shanty where he allegedly raped them.

The girls were apparently found the following day by one of their parents, when one of the girls screamed from inside the locked shanty.

Monnapule’s legal representative, advocate Dries van Tonder, from Legal Aid South Africa, informed the court that he was under the impression that his client was “confused and bewildered”.

“I asked him if he was really okay and he looked at me with a blank facial expression. He stared into the distance without making any eye contact and appeared to be depressed. I do not think that he is sufficiently stable to proceed.”

Senior State advocate Catherine Jansen pointed out that the accused was facing serious charges.

She added that the minimum prescribed sentence for crimes of this nature was life imprisonment.

“Under the circumstances, the accused will not be able to give proper instructions to his lawyer and we would like the accused to be given an opportunity to be stabilised, given what happened on Monday. The accused will remain in custody.”

Judge Bulelwa Pakati postponed the matter until today.