Sex worker found not guilty in murder case
ILLOVO- A sex worker accused of murdering Christopher Norman Bates (41) at his home in Illovo has been found not guilty.
Bates was an employee at the American Consulate in Johannesburg.
Sex worker Lorraine Mogapi, accused of the murder, claimed she was forced to kill him in self-defence after he attempted to attack her.
According to a report in The Star newspaper (10 February), Bates and Mogapi had come to an arrangement the night of the murder.
It was reported that Bates had agreed to purchase the sex worker’s services for R200 and had driven her to his home. The heated argument turned violent when Bates refused to pay, and grabbed a knife from his kitchen to threaten her with. Mogapi blinded Bates with her pepper spray, and when he went to wash his face, she took the knife and ran out of the flat.
According to The Star, she ran to the security guard at the complex to show him the weapon she had been threatened with. After Bates had caught up to her, brandishing a baseball bat, Mogapi stabbed him in the chest, damaging his aorta and killing him. On 7 February Mogapi was found not guilty at the Palm Ridge Magisrate’s Court.
