One suspect in NMU student rape and assault case acquitted

One of the men accused of the brutal attack and rape of a Nelson Mandela University student was acquitted on all charges in the Port Elizabeth High Court on Thursday.

Mziyanda Kana’s co-accused in the matter, Mziyanda Yoyo, was, however, found guilty on charges of assault, rape and attempted murder – but not of kidnapping.

In her judgment, acting judge Lee-Anne Ah-Shene said she found that the state had not proved beyond reasonable doubt that Kana was guilty.

Ah-Shene said Yoyo was not a credible witness, being argumentative during cross-examination, with his version of events also not adding up.

Ah-Shene said Kana’s evidence that he and the 25-yearold victim – who is not being named because she is a victim of a sex crime – had consensual oral sex and knew each other, played in his favour.

She said Kana’s testimony that the woman willingly accompanied him and Yoyo to a house in Walmer township, coupled with semen samples, created doubt that the state had proven its case against him.

Ah-Shene further scrutinised the four statements the woman gave to police.

The one, on the day of the attack on October 1 2016, and one on the following day, did not implicate Kana at all.

Only in her fourth statement, obtained earlier in 2018, did she make mention of Kana.

Yoyo threatened the woman with a gun and assaulted her at Kana’s house before the woman, Yoyo, Kana and another person, only identified as Raymond, drove to Victoria Drive where they pulled off on a gravel road.

Kana testified that he remained in the car while the woman was led to nearby bushes where she was further assaulted and raped before one of the men threatened to shoot her, but the gun jammed.

The woman was then beaten with a metal pole and left for dead.

“Given the evidence led, I cannot conclude that the state proved beyond reasonable doubt that [Kana] kidnapped and raped the complainant.

“It stands to reason that [Yoyo] is also not guilty of kidnapping as he drove [Kana and the woman] to his house in Walmer,” Ah-Shene said.

It is alleged Kana was taken to East London and held hostage by Yoyo after the assault on the woman.

The case continues.