Assault charges against Pirates’ Lorch dropped

Orlando Pirates midfielder Thembinkosi Lorch will breathe a sigh of relief after his case to cause grievous bodily harm was provisionally withdrawn from the Randburg Magistrate court.

ALSO READ: Pirates missing four strikers ahead of Soweto Derby

The Bafana Bafana man was released on R2 000 bail after he was charged with assault by his girlfriend Fundiswa Mathithibala last year in September following an altercation between the couple.

Lorch has had off the field incidents which have affected his game in recent times. Towards the end of last season Lorch was called into a disciplinary hearing after he left the club’s bio-bubble and was relegated to the sidelines for a while before he was granted permission to re-join his teammates in the bio-bubble. The NPA says the evidence will determine whether the footballer will be prosecuted or or not.

“The case against Orlando Pirates’ football player, Tembinkosi Lorch has been provisionally withdrawn by the Randburg Magistrates’ Court earlier today,” read the statement from the NPA.

“Lorch, through his legal team, submitted representations to the Senior Public Prosecutor (SPP) and after considering such representations, the SPP took a decision to provisionally withdraw the prosecution against Lorch.

“Lorch was charged with assault with intent to cause grievous bodily harm, following a complaint laid at Midrand South African Police Service(SAPS) by his girlfriend.”

The South African Police Service will continue investigating to gather more evidence to assist with the verdict of the case at the Randburg Magistrate court.

“The SPP instructed SAPS to conduct further investigations and the NPA will be guided by that investigation process on whether or not to proceed with prosecuting Lorch.”

For more news your way, download The Citizen’s app for iOS and Android.