Pretoria - When a 12-year-old girl claimed her father had raped her, he was convicted and sentenced to 15 years in jail.
But she later confessed that she had lied and she was not raped.
By that time her father - known simply as “S” - had spent seven years in jail.
He asked Legal Aid to assist him to appeal against his conviction but, he claims they took so long in attending to his case that he had to spend two years longer in jail than was necessary.
He is now claiming R5.6 million in the High Court in Pretoria from the Legal Aid board.
The man stated that six months after he had asked the board to take on his case, he received a letter from them stating that there were no prospects of him being freed on appeal.
He said the board only proceeded with the appeal following pressure from his daughter and other family members.
When the appeal eventually went ahead in Bloemfontein in 2011, three judges agreed that he had been failed by the justice system.
The appeal court judge, Louis Harms, said at the time the delays were “deplorable” and put the justice system to shame.
He said it took the Legal Aid Board some years before it obtained the case record, which it then handed over to the local justice centre in Bloemfontein, which took two months to file the appeal with the court - despite having only to cross the road to do so.
All counsel could offer was an apology, without an explanation to the court, as if that was of any consolation to the appellant who had to spend seven years in prison, courtesy of the ineptitude of the board, the judge said.
The appellate judges, in assessing the merits of the case, found that the trial court let the father down.
The only versions before the court were that of the father - who said he never raped the child - and the child who said he did. The judges found there were many discrepancies in the child’s evidence, and not enough evidence that her father had raped her.
“S” said he suffered deeply being in jail for so long and that if the board had done its job, he would have been released much earlier.
But the board blamed an acting judge who confirmed the conviction and sentence who had not been available, as well as other technical issues.
Last week “S” got the go-ahead from the High Court in Pretoria to proceed with his claim for compensation for his ordeal.
Pretoria News