The case against a 24-year-old Afro-pop singer, has been postponed by the Stilfontein magistrate’s court on Tuesday for a regional court decision.
The singer whose name is known to the publication but is not mentioned because he has not pleaded, faces a rape charge after he was arrested on 28 December 2022 for allegedly sleeping with a 13-year-old girl.
The victim is a daughter of the singer’s business friend who then assaulted the accused after noticing strange behaviour in his daughter.
According to court documents, the 13-year-old girl explained to her father that she had written a letter to the singer who was at that time visiting his father, asking him to sleep with her as she liked him.
The documents further stated that the victim’s father then attacked the alleged perpetrator to the point that he was brought to the hospital under police custody.
On Monday, an affidavit from an investigating officer on the matter was read in court by the state prosecutor, Kelebogile Mochwaiwa, who said she won’t oppose a decision to free the accused on bail.
But Mochwaiwa said she opposed the bail saying the accused raped a minor and might continue to intimidate her.
“Firstly the accused person provided two addresses, now, should it happen that he is not in court when summoned, we are now faced with two addresses, and at this stage we cannot be certain as to where he resides.
“We have a lot of this kind of offenses where an accused is charged with rape where the victim is a minor. Today in our courtroom we had two matters where minors were the victims, this shows the prevalence of this offense.
“The victim is a 13-year-old, a child who can easily be intimidated and a person who is easily influenced,” she said.
Applying for the singer’s bail, his legal representative Thabang Mofokeng told the court that he understood that the crime leveled against his client was serious but the accused was not a threat and will not be in contact with the victim as he stays in Welkom and in Midrand.
“I have no contention against the state because they must secure the safety of the child. The contention of the court is that it could be the victim is in love with the accused, it could be not, at this point we cannot say they are in a relationship.
“The Investigating Officer’s affidavit states that the victim said she wrote a letter to my client telling him how much she loves him,” he said.
The case was postponed to February 09 after the accused was granted R2 000 bail.
