Alleged sexual offender’s alibi tested

The trial started in the Roodepoort Magistrate’s Court on Monday 16 and Tuesday 17 February, where the court started testing his alibi.

According to the accused, at the times the offences allegedly took place he was at work, sending emails from his computer.

He presented this alibi only after his bail application. This defence was not put to witnesses before Monday.
Magistrate Delise Smit postponed trial to 14 and 15 April this year pending further investigation into his defence. The Police’s Cyber Crime Unit will verify that emails were sent on the relevant dates and that the emails’ date and time stamps were not tampered with, since the accused’s work is in the line of information technology (IT).

In April the defence will commence its cross-examination of the witnesses. Thereafter Smit will report the court’s findings before an appropriate sentence will be decided upon.

The accused was arrested in April 2013 after allegedly offering a 17-year-old Hoërskool Bastion pupil R200 to perform oral sex on him. He was originally charged with nine offences pertaining to the Sexual Offences Amendment Act 32 of 2007. A further five charges were added in January 2014, which led him to admit to the court that he got “unusual sexual urges”. He later pleaded not guilty to all 14 charges.