Durban - The 25-year-old man charged with the rape and robbery of a woman who was jogging in Howick last year is a free man after DNA evidence excluded him from the case.
NPA spokeswoman, Natasha Ramkissoon-Kara, confirmed the rape charge had been withdrawn against the man, in the Pietermaritzburg Regional Court last week, in the wake of the DNA analysis.
“The result of the DNA test excludes the man as the perpetrator,” she said.
The man, who was never named by the media, spent more than a year in custody after being denied bail.
The State alleged that the victim, a businesswoman, was dragged off the road and raped at knifepoint while on her morning run in the KZN Midlands on June 13 last year.
The investigating officer, Sergeant Agrippa Mnikathi, of the Howick Family Violence, Child Protection and Sexual Offences Unit, said in affidavits filed during the man’s bail hearing that the victim had identified the accused in a line-up.
The accused was also charged with robbing the victim of a pair of Nike running shoes, a black tracksuit jacket and a Timex digital watch.
South African Community Action spokesman, Brian Jones, who had been assisting the rape victim, said they were shocked by the outcome of the case.
Daily News