Afrikaans singer Jurie Els, accused of sexually molesting fellow singer Robbie Klay for years, wants to force the State to provide him with more details about the charges against him.
Els on Wednesday applied for a court order to force the State to provide him with further particulars about the charges, including specifics about what happened when and where.
This includes Klay's girlfriend's computer, on which a press statement was drawn up.
Els is to go on trial on Monday next week on three charges of indecently assaulting and soliciting Klay, now 23, to commit indecent acts while the he was under the age of 16.
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Els is accused of repeatedly sexually molesting and sodomising Klay for years at various places in the country and of manipulating Klay into taking part.
Counsel for Els, Danie Dorfling, argued that the State had cast its net so widely and worded the charges in such non-specific terms that Klay could "colour in" the sex deeds and come up with even more additional deeds when he testified.
According to Dorfling, there were clear indications that Klay's version had "shrunk and expanded" over time.
One of the charges had been altered to exclude more heinous deeds, and one specific allegation regarding an incident in George only emerged very recently in an additional statement from Klay.
Els was entitled to know better what the State's case was and exactly what Klay was going to say.
He was entitled to all information and documents in the State's possession, even if these did not form part of the police dossier, on the grounds of his right to a fair trial, he said.
Dorfling argued that there was a "question mark" in Els's mind about why Klay's version had changed over time.
"The applicant is not interested in the colour of the complainant's underwear, but in where, when and what the specific nature of the alleged sexual acts were," he said.
Prosecutor Corlie Bouwer said the State and society had an interest in encouraging the reporting of sexual offences.
She said repeated sexual acts had allegedly been committed against a child over a number of years several years ago and the State was not able to indicate exactly where and when the acts had taken place.
The State was entitled to cast its net widely and it was highly unfair to try to bind the State and the complainant to certain facts by means of further particulars, she said.
According to the State, the charges were based on a statement Klay made to the investigating officer. The State was not aware of any other statements, other than a press statement by Klay.
The State had played open cards with the defence by providing it with an additional statement.
Concerning changes made to statements drawn up on a computer, Bouwer said handwritten statements were not necessarily the only version ever put forward by a witness and many versions could have ended up in the waste bin.
She said the message should not go out that technology could be used to give an accused access to other information to which he may not otherwise have been entitled.
"One can accept his statement was the best effort to put his version on record. To now go back and ask what was first, the hen or the egg, is unfair," she said.
Judgment in the application will be delivered on Thursday. - Sapa
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