‘Incest’ cop found guilty of rape
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Zinhle Khumalo
The cop on incest trial was
on Thursday found guilty of the charges he had committed between 2005 and 2006.
Sitting in the high court
in Palm Ridge, acting Judge Vorster said he found that the evidence given by
the accused was “fabricated”. “I found the accused’s version not true,” said
Vorster .
The accused was facing five
counts of indecent assault and rape. He had previously pleaded not guilty to
the charges. Asked by prosecutor Jacob Molwantwa if he was remorseful of his
actions, the accused replied “for the alleged offences yes.”
The police officer accused
of raping his stepdaughter disputed his ex-wife’s claim she found him exposing
his genitals to the six-year-old daughter.
The case was heard in the
Palm Ridge High Court. Defence counsel Johan Prestorius said the mother’s
version that she had seen the genitals being exposed to the daughter could not
be trusted. Prestorius referred to the mother’s earlier testimony when she
claimed her daughter’s mouth was open at the time the accused was on his knees
when he asked the then grade one pupil to give his private part a “kiss
goodnight”.
The accused however said
the step-daughter was asleep at the time and his action was a “drunken
urination miscalculation”.
Prestorius questioned the
validity of the mother’s story, asking how the incident could have occurred if
the accused knew the mother of the child could enter the room anytime as she
was apparently in the bathroom. “This should at least prove beyond reasonable
doubt something different could have happened that day,” said Prestorius.
Prosecutor Jacob Molwantwa
argued there was no reason for the daughter to lie, and added it should also
not be expected of her to be consistent in her testimony as she “was very young
at that stage.”
Molwantwa said the
contradictions should be “regarded as qualifying the truth”. He said
consistency would prove the matter brought forward was not true and could have
been structured.
The sexual molestation case
was revealed when the stepdaughter was 11 years old and she only began
testifying at the age of 17.
The accused is facing six
counts of assault and rape. Molwantwa said there was sufficient evidence
implicating the accused. “He wanted the court to believe that he was drunk that
night…he was able to drive nine km away,” said Molwantwa.
“How could he have lost his
sense of direction at that crucial stage after he had entered the house,”
Molwantwa questioned.
The accused has a child
with his cousin. -zinhlek@citizen.co.za
