|
Face-off
at cop’s rape trial
|
|
THE FIRST and only time her eyes met his was when she had to point him
out.
For the rest of her testimony, Nina* kept her eyes closed. “Do you see the driver in court today?” State prosecutor Lwazi Ngodwana asked Nina, the 13th witness to testify in the high court trial of multiple rape accused Mokolo Molekoa in the Lenasia Magistrate’s Court. She turned her face to the dock and fixed her glare on the police constable. Molekoa stared back. After a few seconds, he stopped staring, and his gaze dropped to the floor. Her eyes stayed on him, filled with anger. She pointed at Molekoa and told Ngodwana he was the driver of the BMW that stopped to give her a lift. During her testimony, Nina said she had missed the last taxi at a rank in Midrand on April 3, 2011. Molekoa had pulled up and offered her a ride. Another man also appeared and got inside the car. Molekoa drove the car to the Waterval cemetery and parked next to a construction site. She was ordered out the car at gunpoint and told to open the door for the man they had picked up on the way. Molekoa made her walk to a hollow, dug-up area and the other man followed them. “Are you going to rape me?” she asked. “Yes,” he said. She pleaded with him to use a condom. Molekoa took one out of his pocket and then forced himself on her. The other man then did the same. When the ordeal was over, they told her to stay where she was if she didn’t want to be killed, and drove off with her belongings. Nina then ran to the cemetery and managed to enter the locked gates. She found security guards, who helped her phone her brother. Unlike the other witnesses, Nina refused to go to an identity parade. “I just wanted to forget the incident; I didn’t want to go back.” Judge Peter Mabuse asked Nina how she expected her perpetrator to be punished if she did not co-operate. Molekoa is accused of 17 rape and kidnapping charges and 12 of robbery. Three more alleged rape victims are still to testify. * Not her real name. By Mpiletso Motumi - mpiletso.motumi@inl.co.za The Star 15/08/13 Early Edition |
Saturday, March 1, 2014
Crimes of the South African Police Service
