New hope for Hewitt family

E-mails between victims may strengthen appeal

HEARING about documents that could prove collusion on the part of Bob Hewitt’s rape accusers has provided his family with a glimmer of hope – and his lawyers with the opportunity to appeal against his conviction, his wife Delaille said.

Hewitt’s advocate, Johan Engelbrecht SC, said yesterday the defence team, which had already asked the Supreme Court of Appeal (SCA) for permission to appeal against Hewitt’s convictions, planned to also ask the SCA to include the e-mails as evidence.

Hewitt was, in March, found guilty of rape and indecent assault for abusing three of his tennis pupils while they were underage in the 1980s and ‘90s.

He has consistently denied the claims, saying they were a conspiracy to discredit him.

The SABC on Tuesday reported that it was in possession of correspondence between Suellen Sheehan, Theresa Tolken and a third woman who may not be named, which showed the three “may have colluded” nearly three years before the trial.

The broadcaster further claimed to be in possession of e-mails between Sheehan and prosecutor Carina Coetzee in which Coetzee warned Sheehan that her contradictory statements could compromise the case.

In one of the e-mails Sheehan allegedly claimed she had seen the police docket and called the investigation a “joke”.

Delaille, who has stood firmly by her husband’s side throughout the trial, said: “Bob and I and the whole family are totally and utterly relieved as this is what we have believed from the get-go,” she said.

-Angela Daniels, additional reporting by Roxanne Henderson