Durban - A Merebank teen on trial for rape allegedly bragged about a video clip he had recorded of the incident and likened it to a notorious piece of child pornography involving a Phoenix girl that had been in circulation.
A State witness and friend of the complainant, who cannot be named to protect her identity, told Durban Regional Court magistrate Sharon Marks on Tuesday that Darren Mogany, 18, showed him a video of the complainant being assaulted with a beer bottle on July 30, 2010, the day of the alleged rape.
The friend and a group of other boys watched the video and he asked Mogany to send him the clip via Bluetooth because he thought it was funny.
He said the video was later deleted by his girlfriend who was upset and shouted at him when he showed it to her.
The witness said Mogany appeared to be bragging and kept saying “Phoenix 2”, to laughter from the boys with him, who repeated the phrase.
Later, it was heard that “Phoenix 2” referred to the video clip in question, inferring that it was the sequel to a pornographic video of a 15-year-old from Phoenix which did the rounds in 2009.
Seven suspects were charged in that matter, after the teenager was alleged to have been drugged and gang-raped.
The charges were later withdrawn after it was found that the girl had acted in consent.
Mogany and his brother-in-law Adish Deonarain, 25, pleaded not guilty this week to three counts of rape and four counts related to child pornography for creating and distributing a video clip of the alleged offence.
The defence will argue that the complainant smoked dagga and consumed alcohol before she engaged in consensual sex.
The complainant, 19, claims she was drugged and tried to push the accused away, but was too weak.
In his evidence on Tuesday the witness, who was part of the group gathered at Mogany’s home that day, said the complainant appeared to be asleep in the video.
He said he had not seen the complainant in person that day.
The mother of the complainant began to sob on Tuesday when she was asked about the delay in reporting the matter to police.
“Deep down you know you have to go to the police. But when you see a video like this, it is devastating. Everything you know doesn’t make sense. We didn’t know how to deal with it,” she said.
The complainant was first taken to a counsellor by her parents who advised them to press charges.
The court had heard that the complainant’s aunt had come across the video and had shown it to the young woman’s parents, almost two years after the alleged offence.
Mogany’s lawyer, Theuns Botha, asked the mother if her daughter had explained why it had taken so long to come forward.
“She told me she didn’t know how to deal with it. She said Accused 1 (Mogany) told her that the video showed that she was a willing participant. She said she remembered another incident in the paper where the girl was the willing participant and the charges were withdrawn. She was afraid that because she was drugged she could not have known what she had done.”
The mother told the court that on the day in question she remembered her daughter coming home earlier than usual and that she appeared to be unwell.
Her daughter’s eyes appeared “glassy” and she and her other daughter joked that the complainant looked “drugged”. She said her daughter was adamant that she did not want to see a doctor.
She told the court that her daughter always kissed her when she arrived home from school and, on that day, she did not detect any alcohol.
She said it was common knowledge that Mogany hosted parties at his house
“Teachers have broken up parties at his house during school hours,” she said.
The matter was expected to enter into a trial within a trial today, regarding the admissibility of Mogany’s statement to police after his arrest.
Daily News