Judge convicts genital harvester

DANISH national Peter Frederiksen is facing a long time in jail after being found guilty on 36 of the remaining 38 charges he is facing in the Free State High Court.

The Dane – nicknamed the punani havester – last month appeared set to escape with a slap on the wrist after being accused of slicing off women’s clitorises in illegal operations, but things took a surprise turn yesterday.

In a detailed judgment that took Judge Johann Daffue nearly four hours to deliver, Frederiksen was found guilty of contravening the Immigration Act by providing false information in order to remain in South Africa; assaulting his now deceased wife, Anna Matseliso Molise; possession and production of child pornography; rape of a minor; conveyance and possession of an unregistered anaesthetic drug, xylocaine.

He was also found guilty of conspiracy to commit murder; fraud; contravening the Firearms Control Act by supplying false information when he applied for his gunshop licence; illegal possession of firearms; failure to report the loss or dispossession of firearms; and the payment and influencing of a State witness.

Frederiksen was, however, not found guilty on charges 5 and 6 relating to the alleged rape of Molise. “I give you the benefit of the doubt on counts 5 and 6,” said Judge Daffue.

The State had sought that the accused be found guilty of raping his late wife after he sliced off her clitoris and pierced her genitals, without her consent. The initial charges on the severing of women’s private parts failed to stick due to a change in the country’s laws, which the judge still believes should be reviewed.

In September, Judge Daffue dropped about 20 charges related to the removal of human tissue and the removal of human tissue in an unauthorised place which the Danish national was facing, saying the country’s National Health Act did not indicate the nature of penalties for the transgressions and could, therefore, not be pursued in court.

It is, however, criminal in South Africa to insert an object beyond the labia without a woman’s consent, but the matter could not be sustained as the woman is now deceased even though she confided in some that she had been cut after being drugged by the accused.

While the judge said he was satisfied with the evidence of the 27 State witnesses, he was scathing of Frederiksen, whom he described as an unreliable and manipulative witness.

“The accused was not a satisfactory witness. He gave longwinded answers. I was not happy with the manner in which the accused blamed Tshili (the late wife) for everything. The accused is certainly not a man of high moral standing.

“He simultaneously married two women and was involved with people who believed in Satanism,” Judge Daffue told a packed court.

On the charge of conspiracy to commit murder, the judge said while the State solely relied on the evidence of wheelchair-bound Motlatsi Moqeti, after he turned State witness, he was convinced it had built a strong case against the accused.

“The State has made out a strong case even though it relied on a single witness,” he added.