Glaring contradictions in the testimony of a man and a youth accused of the kidnap and rape of a 33-year-old school teacher in 2017 were laid bare in the Port Elizabeth High Court on Monday.
The two gave significantly different versions, with one of the accused, who was just 16 at the time of the alleged attack, claiming his co-accused had lied and that he (the teenager) had been instructed by a mutual friend to incriminate him.
The accused, now 17, who cannot be named because he is a minor, told the court during cross-examination by state prosecutor advocate Mark Driman that a friend – only identified as Pietertjie – had told him to pin the crime on his co-accused, Donovan Heugh, 26.
“Pietertjie was not present [the day of the alleged rape]. I told him I robbed the woman, I did not rape her.
“Pietertjie said I must put the blame on [Heugh],” the teenager said.
The teenager and Heugh have pleaded not guilty to charges of kidnapping, rape, pointing of an object which could lead someone to believe it is a firearm and robbery with aggravating circumstances.
The teenager pleaded guilty to robbery.
He testified that, on the morning of July 17 2017, he was at a shop in Gelvandale, near the Bell Road home where the victim was allegedly abducted before being taken to Gelvandale Sports Grounds.
It was there that she was allegedly repeatedly raped.
While hanging around the area, he spotted Heugh, who he claimed to have been friends with for some time.
After inquiring what Heugh was up to, the teenager accompanied him to Bell Road where they saw the woman walking.
It was then, according to the teenager, that Heugh told the woman to “hook into his arm”.
The teenager admitted that at that stage he grabbed the woman’s bag and stole her cellphone, tablet and R50.
He gave the cellphone to Heugh before they made their way to the sports grounds.
Once there, the teenager testified, he told Heugh on at least four occasions to leave the woman alone.
He claimed he left the area, leaving Heugh and the woman at the scene.
But Heugh claimed that he and the teenager had met the woman the night before the alleged attack, while she was walking in Zimdahl Street.
He said the woman willingly went with him to his parents’ property where he asked a woman – only named in court as Barbie – living in an outhouse on the premises if he and the alleged victim could spend the night.
During this time the woman allegedly consented to having sex with him.
However, the teenager denied these and other claims, telling the court that at no time on the Sunday before the alleged rape was he in the company of Heugh.