Roodepoort sexual predator found guilty

Judgment was delivered on Wednesday in the case of the predator who approached schoolgirls and offered them money in exchange for oral sex in Gauteng’s West Rand, the Roodepoort Record reports.

The accused, Claude Marais, was found guilty on five of the eight charges against him, faced regional magistrate Delize Smith while she delivered judgment.

“The first victim could clearly identify Marais,” Smith said. “According to her statement, his exposed penis was erect. He offered her R300 to perform oral sex on him. When she ran away, he sped off.”

Smith said the then 17-year-old girl was a reliable witness and the court accepted her testimony. “She could give a clear description of his hair, and that he was exposed from the waist down. She identified him as the accused.”

The second and third victims’ testimonies were also accepted by the court because of being chronologically sound. Although the third victim did not attend an identity parade, she managed to positively identify Marais later in court as the person who had made sexual advances towards her.

The fourth victim’s evidence was not sufficient to identify Marais because, although she gave a clear description of his features, she pointed out someone else during the identity parade. However, the court accepted the car registration number she provided.

The fifth victim, whom he approached one morning, was a primary school learner. The court ruled that the girl had contradicted herself when giving evidence, therefore Marais was found not guilty.

Smith pointed out that Marais denied being at the scenes where the crimes were committed, and that he claimed that he would be able to prove it. However, he did not immediately submit his laptop as evidence, therefore the court accepted evidence to the contrary. She said his cellphone records also contradicted his testimony as it showed that he was in the area.

“The court cannot accept the accused’s version that he was at his office the whole day since his cellphone records tell a different story,” Smith said.

“Since the laptop and desktop computers were not examined by the state, it can be argued that they were manipulated. [Marais is an IT specialist.] His testimony carries very little weight,” she said.

Smith said it was too much of a coincidence that in four of the victims’ testimonies the details about the assaults were almost identical and there was no evidence that they could have obtained the information from another source.

Sentencing will take place on 7 February next year.