Wife stands by rape accused

THE wife of a Chatsworth man who was set to stand trial for allegedly raping their young daughter in March, is standing by her man, saying she did not believe he would could commit such a “heinous crime”.

The 55-year-old father of six is alleged to have raped the then 9-year-old in their home in March.

She had since been staying at a place of safety.

The trial was set to begin in the Durban Regional Court on Thursday, but was postponed to next month when the State said it needed to verify the whereabouts of the child, who was not brought to court.

While the family was upset by the development, the girl’s mother is particularly aggrieved that her husband of 21 years is in the dock in the first place.

After the matter was postponed, the woman, who gave birth to their fifth child last month – her husband also has a child from an earlier marriage – told POST he had always had a good relationship with his children.

“My husband is a strict man and did not like the children to behave rudely. However, my younger daughters did not like to be told what to do, or listen, but I don’t believe he would have done this to her,” she said.

“I also don’t understand how it got to this extent. We had a good relationship with our children. We could talk about everything.

“We are just praying that everything gets better, and our family can be together again.”

A second charge against her husband, relating to the alleged rape of his 15-year-old daughter, was earlier withdrawn as records reflected she was at school at the time.

All names are being withheld to protect the identity of the minor children.

The accused’s sister, meanwhile, labelled the justice system a joke after the matter had to be postponed.

His daughter was expected to testify on Thursday, but proceedings could not get under way as she had been moved to another safe house and the State needed to obtain full information on her whereabouts.

Postponement

Defence attorney Suren Naidoo had earlier applied for the case to be withdrawn due to the lack of evidence, stating the case was “weak”.

But the State opposed this. However, prosecutor Sibongile Mkhwanazi called for the postponement to make arrangements for the child to be brought to court.

Naidoo argued his client’s constitutional rights were being violated, and for the past five months he had been suffering, missing his family and becoming ill. Naidoo requested for an immediate bail hearing, however, magistrate M Gwala stated new evidence would have to be presented and requested the previous bail hearing transcripts from the Chatsworth Magistrate’s Court.

Naidoo told he was disappointed with the postponement and the reasons behind it and would be processing a new bail application.

“We are utterly disappointed with the postponement, as we had set a special trial date and all relevant parties were subpoenaed in advance.

“We will now be applying for a bail hearing before the trial date.”

Dressed in a black shirt and khaki pants, the accused stood solemnly with his head bowed and hands behind his back throughout the proceedings. His family, who sat in the public gallery, wept as the magistrate ruled on the postponement.

His sister told POST she had promised him she would get him out and back home to his family.

“We are so angry. How did they not know that the children had been moved? Is it not their duty to find out before these proceedings?

“Where are all the witnesses that were supposed to testify? I believe they knew the child was put in a new place, they are just prolonging the case… because there is no case.”

Another sister said she wanted everything to be back to normal, and for the family to get closure.

“We are not taking sides or are here to judge. We know the family’s background and their struggles.

“It is devastating and heartbreaking; our family is torn apart. We don’t believe he would do something like this to his child,” she said.

“We just want to the law to take its course and for people to stop judging our family.”