Pretoria - The city farmer accused of raping his family’s domestic worker also forced her to perform oral sex on his two dogs, it emerged on on Thursday.
According to the charge sheet, the suspect - who cannot be named owing to the nature of the crime - first held the woman against her will in a room on October 23 and damaged her cellphone.
He then forced her to perform the sexual act on him before raping her moments later. But the woman’s ordeal did not end there; he then instructed her to have sex with the pets.
The accused faces 10 counts which include, rape, sexual assault, kidnapping and malicious damage to property.
Chaos erupted as hundreds of angry residents stormed into the Bronkhorstspruit Magistrate’s Court on Thursday, where he was applying for bail.
The crowds, led by the EFF, DA Women’s Network and the ANC Women’s League were furious at the alleged crime, which they said was dehumanising and deserved the worst punishment possible.
The accused, from Riamar Park in Bronkhorstspruit, instructed his attorney Ehleketani Maluleke to abandon bail as he no longer felt comfortable.
State prosecutor Tiisetso Leballo convinced magistrate Ignatius du Preez to postpone the hearing until February 5. He said the State was still waiting for DNA results. The suspect will remain in custody.
Du Preez made it clear to the accused that he faced life in prison should he be found guilty.
Tshwane SPCA Inspector Andrew Kekana told the Pretoria News that the family of the accused had nine dogs. The SPCA confiscated the two dogs that were allegedly those involved in accordance with the law.
Kekana said the SPCA was considering laying charges, as cases of bestiality were happening, but going unreported.
Earlier, the protesters spilled rubbish from bins and marched outside the court.
Another group headed to the local municipal offices to protest. The sound of grenades were heard coming from outside the court a few minutes after members of a larger group were denied access by security guards owing to lack of space and overcrowding.
Although Du Preez applauded the crowd for being calm during proceedings, emotions ran high.
The victim was brought to the courtroom by supportive women’s league members.
She had covered her face with an ANC-branded sheet as the media was granted permission to take photographs in the courtroom on the basis of public interest.
Women’s league secretary Gogo Ndlovana said: “We are here to give support to the victim. I have already spoken to her. She is in a place of safety which we cannot divulge.
“We are busy with social workers and today a psychiatrist will visit her so she can know the level of her mind in terms of what happened to her.
“She is torn up; she can’t express herself 100%. She needs a lot of support because she said to me that the way this matter was circulating on social media has tarnished her image.
“She highlighted that she was forced to do things to the dogs.”
EFF regional convener Ganadhla Mabona said: “We are protesting to make sure the message is sent and to support the family. We are 50% confident (in the justice system) because of what happened in the last case whereby a minor was kidnapped by two white guys in Zithobeni.
“In this court, they were not granted bail, but we were surprised to see them out and we were told they were granted bail in another court. We are worried that if that could happen here we could come here next year on February 5 knowing he is on custody, but be surprised to see him accompanied by his family.”
DA regional chairperson Abel Tau said: “We were alerted of this incident by our MP Bridget Masango and subsequently through our women’s network; we caught wind of what happened and that is why we are here to support the victim.
“From what we gather, this lady was raised by that family and worked for them as well. Over and above that we just feel this is a crime that dehumanises someone here. We can’t sit back and act as if it’s business as usual.”
Members of the angry crowd said they were going to shut down Bronkhorstspruit later this month when the farmers charged with the kidnapping and rape of a minor appear. Some EFF members believed the cases were racism-related and demonstrated their disapproval by burning pictures of the old South African flag.
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