Kimberley – A father from Cassandra, who is accused of raping his nine-year-old daughter, will spend the weekend behind bars after being denied bail in the Kimberley Magistrate’s Court on Thursday.
Despite the accused denying the allegations, claiming that they stem from marital problems, Magistrate Lance Roach was not convinced that the 41-year-old father of two, who cannot be named in order to protect the identity of the victim, had given sufficient reason why his release for the duration of the trial was in the interest of justice during the schedule six bail application.
The rape allegedly occurred at the family home in Cassandra last Tuesday where the accused was living with his spouse, in violation of a protection order taken out by the victim’s mother against him some time ago.
Apart from this offence, the accused has a pending case of theft against him and also claimed to have been in custody on this charge at the time of the rape.
An evaluation of the victim by a gynecologist confirmed that the nine-year-old girl had sustained injuries consistent with a sexual assault but could not establish whether these were caused by the accused, a third party or whether they were self inflicted.
The defence claimed that the allegation of rape was baseless and was the result of of the pending divorce case, while the accused further expressed concern that he would not receive adequate medical treatment while incarcerated following a recent hip surgery.
He also questioned how much access he would have to his legal representative to finalise his divorce case while in custody, adding that he was not a flight risk and had not intentionally violated the protection order against him.
Roach did point out that it appeared as if the rape charge was added while the accused was in custody for theft and not while he was out on bail. However, the State opposed bail expressing concern that the accused may unduly influence witnesses in the case, which include his 12-year-old son.
Although bail was denied, Roach assured the accused that he would not allow lengthy postponements, setting the next court date for February next year.