Update: Middleton trial – more evidence emerges

COURT was adjourned last Thursday when the mother of a nine-year-old complainant ran out of the Port Shepstone Regional courtroom, crying hysterically and holding her mouth as if wanting to vomit.

This was shortly after state prosecutor, Muziwoduma Miza, showed her the photographs which she had allegedly found on the cellular phone of former Hibiscus Coast Municipality law enforcement senior traffic officer, Dave Middleton.

Middleton faces 34 charges, including rape, sexual assault, sexual grooming of a child, display and exposure of child pornography and intimidation.

However, Middleton’s advocate, Jimmy Howse, suggested afterwards to her in the course of cross-examination that her flight from the courtroom had been theatrical; that according to a woman who had followed her, she did not vomit.

That she had seen the photos before on several occasions, including when she testified in court earlier on in the trial-within-a-trial. The mother dismissed the suggestion as a blatant lie.

On Thursday another mother of a 14-year-old complainant told the court that Middleton had asked her if photographs could be taken of her daughter to be used for advertising purposes.

She had agreed and chose two dresses for the child to wear. Middleton had also approached her when he heard that she was going away to Potchefstroom and offered to accommodate the girl and her cousin while the mother was away.

She had agreed to this but two weeks later, on the afternoon she returned, she overheard her daughter replying to the person on the other end of the phone, with simple ‘yes’ and ‘no’ answers and heard her say ‘No, I won’t, I swear on my mother’s life’.

She found this very strange and when she asked her daughter who she had been talking to, she said ‘Dave’. The mother said she could sense ‘something was amiss’, and she questioned her daughter further.

Her daughter then told her that Middleton had phoned her and told her not tell her mother that nude photos had been taken of her by the mother of the nine-year-old, but that the photos were taken by her cousin while the phone was left unattended.

Under cross-examination by Adv Howse, the mother of the 14-year-old told the court how the relationship between the two mothers broke down after she had found out her sister’s son had been visiting the home of the mother of the nine-year-old and had been asked to do chores for her and in return she would pay for his karate classes.

This was later denied by the mother of the nine-year-old who claimed that the boy had asked to work in her garden but that he would do so for only five minutes before joining the other children to play games.

Under cross- examination, the same witness admitted that two children who had received tuition in Middleton’s dojo and others from the neighbourhood were now training (under another sensei) in the mother’s garage.

Adv Howse suggested that it was believed that her motive was to move Middleton out of the dojo so she could start her own dojo with some of his students. The mother however denied this saying she was not qualified to do so and that it was not the reason for having had Middleton ‘locked up.’

The woman insisted that all that she wanted was for the truth to come out. “No, I want the truth to come out, so the children can carry on with their lives… even if it was not my child, I would still have spoken out,” she said.

The court also heard that an affidavit had been submitted by a local dentist who averred that the mother had once sent him a text and asked him for R5000 to assist her in court proceedings involving her former husband, one in which he was suspected of ‘inappropriate sexual behaviour’ involving their infant daughter.

The mother had told him that she had been trying for years to get justice for her child and that the police were against her. The mother denied the dentist’s claims.

Adv Howse also suggested that after Middleton’s arrest the mother had asked a neighbour for money and that the neighbour’s affidavit stated that she had told him that Middleton’s friend, a karate instructor, had raped her daughter.

The mother denied this. Adv Howse pointed out that the mother had gone to various people, seeking sympathy.

He put it to the mother that she had had access to Middleton’s phone and computer as well as other resources and that she did not only have the opportunity but also the skill to manipulate photographs.

Adv Howse described the mother as a manipulative and evasive person, who embellished her story, and that Middleton denied having taken or possessed the photographs she claimed she had found on his phone.

In response the mother said that she ‘was not such a person’ and would never implicate someone falsely.

Regional magistrate, Johann Bester, who has now been joined by two assessors, adjourned the case to January next year. TO READ MORE ON THE CASE, CLICK HERE