Child rape case: protests outside court
“No bail. Go to jail,” protesters chanted outside the bail hearing for a pair who face 11 counts of child abuse and rape.
|||Durban - Angry protests continued outside the Chatsworth Magistrate’s Court on Wednesday, as the bail hearing for a 54-year-old Pinetown man accused of raping an 11-year-old girl, and the girl’s 50-year-old mother, accused of selling her daughter to the man for sex, ran into its second day.
The pair, who cannot be named to protect the identity of the minor, face 11 counts, including child abuse, rape, compelled rape and sexual assault.
After they appeared in court on Monday, the Daily News reported how Chatsworth residents had gathered outside the court, chanting “No bail. Go to jail,” and Wednesday’s scene was much the same. Inside court, closing arguments were heard.
As the charges they face include schedule 6 offences, the onus was on the defence to show there were exceptional circumstances warranting the granting of bail.
Acting for the man, defence attorney Shameer Goolabjith said it was for a trial court, and not a bail court, to rule on his guilt that as an accused, his client had a right to be treated as innocent until proven otherwise.
He questioned the strength of the State’s case and said certain allegations referred to incidents that would not have fallen within the Chatsworth Magistrate’s Court’s jurisdiction and that his client had tendered alibis for the dates referred to in the State’s case.
He said the State claimed to have an injury report but had not furnished the defence with it, meaning there was as yet no medical evidence linking his client to the crime.
Goolabjith said his client’s business and family would suffer and his 5-year-old grandson would be left unsupported if he was held in custody.
Defence attorney for the accused woman, Ramiah Narain said the exceptional circumstances that existed in his client’s case referred to a family dispute that the investigating officer had testified to having had heard about.
State prosecutor, Owen Subban, said unless exceptional circumstances were shown, the court was obliged to detain the accused throughout proceedings.
Goolabjith had also argued his client was taxi owner and driver, but Subban said this did not warrant exceptional circumstances.
The matter was adjourned for a decision on bail.
Daily News
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