Reverend loses bid to gag woman

An Anglican church reverend and alleged rapist was shown the door by the Western Province High Court in Cape Town this week, after he tried to silence a woman he’s been accused of having assaulted.

Judge Elizabeth Baartman – who delivered the ruling – didn’t hold back, finding his application for a gag order was simply an attempt “to exert dominance” over the woman, after the decades-old case had finally started gaining traction.

During the hearing, lawyers acting for the now suspended Reverend Melvin Booysen, the applicant, had also argued Reverend June Dolley-Major, the respondent, should have stated her claims were allegations in social media posts naming him as her rapist. But Baartman made short shrift of this, too, labelling it “an astounding proposition”.

“It would be preposterous to give the alleged abuser editorial rights over the victim’s narrative,” the judge said.

Booysen is alleged to have raped Dolley-Major in Makhanda in 2002. She first started naming him on social media in 2017, after the state declined to prosecute her case.

Over the course of the past few years, Dolley-Major has developed a thousands-strong following and become “a champion for survivors of rape”.

The church has also since established a unit to deal with sexual complaints and a decision on Dolley-Major is pending.

It wasn’t until March this year, that Booysen filed an urgent application to block her from posting about him, labelling the claims against him “untruthful and clearly intended to harm my reputation”.

Ultimately, Baartman found the horse had already bolted and that the posts had now moved from identifying him as a rapist to reporting on the progress of an 18-year process and providing a safe space for survivors.

“More harm will be caused to the respondent and those who have either shared their experiences or have been encouraged to speak out and seek help in respect of their own abuse,” she said.

Legal experts have warned it still remains unlawful to publicly “name and shame” a rape accused before they have pleaded.

“In this case, however, the court found that the posts had evolved from potentially defamatory content to a platform for all victims to be heard,” HJW Attorneys’ Kimberley Tee said.

“However, the court was not of the view that removing the details of [Booysen] and/or the posts made by [Dolley-Major] deemed urgent remedy,” she explained.

Dolley-Major, who eventually resigned from the church and landed up living in a shelter, was elated with the outcome.