By Zelda Venter
High Court Reporter
Although there had possibly been an unhealthy relationship between singers Jurie Els and Robbie Klay while the latter was a child star, the court could not be led by mere suspicions to convict Els on the three charges of sexual molestation.
This was the argument yesterday in the Pretoria High Court by Danie Dorfling, who asked for his client - Els - to be discharged.
The State closed its case last week and Dorfling indicated that he would apply for Els's discharge - before he had placed his defence before court. Dorfling said yesterday that at this stage of the trial there was no evidence before the court to warrant a possible conviction.
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He attacked the credibility of Klay and said his evidence was of a poor quality. He said the other four State witnesses had not added anything further regarding the charges against Els. The continuation of the trial at this stage would thus be futile, Dorfling said.
Opening his application, Dorfling said the "truth before this court lay thinly sowed."
He said Klay had openly lied in many instances during his evidence about events.
"His evidence was in fact of such a poor nature that the court cannot convict the accused on it."
Dorfling also stated that the State's case was flawed from the start, as it tried to cast its net as wide as possible to include as many incidents as it could. He said many of the incidents which Klay had testified about fell outside the scope of the indictment, which read that Els had molested Klay between the ages of 11 and 16.
He also said that Klay tried to tell the court that some of the most horrendous claims (the anal penetration) happened while he was not yet 12, but in his original statement he had said it had only taken place after he had turned 12.
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