Dancer gets bail on charge of raping 13-year-old girl

A SHORT, chubby man, with a flat-top hairstyle, who is a dancer with a popular entertainment group, was granted R5 000 bail in the Durban magistrate’s court yesterday after having been accused of raping a 13-year-old girl.

The 31-year-old man, who may not be named until he has pleaded, was ordered to move to an address away from his normal home.

Magistrate Bonsile Ngcobo also ordered that he not interfere with witnesses.

Deciding on the bail, Ngcobo said there was no evidence the accused had “large sums of money at his disposal”.

She also noted that the State had argued that the alleged incident had caused shock and outrage in the community and if he was released, it would cause the community “to lose faith in the justice system”.

Her decision did not augur well with the teenager’s family, who wept in the passage outside the courtroom after the accused was granted bail.

Also left unimpressed with the bail application was Ncumisa Ndlelu, who is on the KwaZulu-Natal team of the Total Shutdown March Against Violence.

“My disappointment is not with the bail but by the consideration of the court. The magistrate focused exclusively on the circumstances of the suspect, not the victim. I don’t think that can be considered justice,” said Ndlelu.

In an affidavit presented to the court at an earlier hearing, the dancer, who appeared in a beige top and tracksuit pants, said he was a “valuable member of the community involved in projects that unleashed the talents of children”.

He denied the charge against him.

His next appearance is on October 5.