Johannesburg - Convicted paedophile Bob Hewitt claims that since his conviction he has been harassed through a series of malicious, anonymous letters.
This was revealed at Hewitt's sentencing proceedings at the Pretoria High Court on Monday morning.
Hewitt, 75, was convicted in March for the rape of two of his former tennis students, Suellen Sheehan and Theresa “Twiggy” Tolken, who were barely teenagers at the time of the abuse.
The tennis star was also found guilty of indecent assault against a third complainant, who may not be named by court order.
While Hewitt never raped her, the High Court found that she had been indecently assaulted by the tennis champ during her practices with him in the 1990s, when he fondled her breasts and pressed his erect penis into the small of her back on separate occasions.
In his ruling, Judge Bert Bam said the former doubles champion must be punished for his “shrewd” and “calculated” grooming of young girls for sex.
The judge said Hewitt took advantage of the love and admiration of his barely teenage tennis students. In 1981, when Hewitt was already 41 years old, he encouraged the puppy love of 12-year-old Tolken, pretending to love her back with a hidden agenda, to keep her under his influence before the rape later that year.
When Hewitt appeared at the Pretoria High Court last month, his defence lawyer, Terry Price insisted that he needed time to obtain a criminologist's report to argue in mitigation of Hewitt's sentence. While the judge granted a postponement, he indicated his desire to wrap up the case before the end of the current court term.
On Monday morning, Price asked the court for another postponement after the State provided the defence with a psychologist's report focusing on paedophilia two weeks ago. He said his team had not had time to consult with their experts about the report.
Bam, clearly irritated with the development, chastised the State for providing the report at such a late stage. “I'm not going to postpone this case again,” said Bam. Prosecutor Carina Coetzee said that the report had only been compiled after the defence revealed its own criminologist report would no longer be used.
Coetzee told the court that if the State's report was going to delay the case further, she would not submit it.
Price then called Hewitt to the stand, where he revealed that since his conviction, he had been harassed through at least 10 anonymous letters.
He told the court some had featured fake signatures of other tennis stars, with many of the letters labelling him a paedophile and insulting his wife. They also contained other comments Hewitt deemed “unspeakable”.
“I've been told to take some Vaseline with me (to prison),” said Hewitt.
When asked the relevance of this testimony, Price argued that the harassment was already a form of punishment for the accused and his family.
Hewitt also detailed the more than 21 operations he had endured in recent years, as well as how he had suffered from a stroke alongside a heart problem.
He said that he and his wife, Delaille, had also suffered greatly since his conviction. He said Delaille had lost her enthusiasm for life, lost weight in recent weeks and that as a couple they had become increasingly reclusive.
It was at this point that Price presented a series of Facebook comments and photos taken from Sheehan's personal page. The comments showed Sheehan and her friends insulting Hewitt and Sheehan's parents, Mike and Judy, who had testified against her during the trial.
He also showed pictures of a party Sheehan had held to celebrate the conviction, with Price declaring the ruling had made Sheehan “excessively arrogant”.
He also accused her of abusing his client in the press.
Bam insisted the proceedings had not been a trial by media, and declared the photos entirely irrelevant.
But Price continued his verbal assault: “Ms Sheehan has a habit of accusing anyone and everyone of child abuse.”
Price then tried to argue that Sheehan had posted she had broken her arm five times in her life, a statement that allegedly contradicted her earlier testimony. When Bam said that arguing about the merits of the case were equally irrelevant and that the lawyer was wasting the court's time, Price exploded.
Price said that if Bam refused to allow him to address the court, he would immediately leave the courtroom.
“Your lordship is to speak to me with respect!” said Price.
Bam did not back down, and insisted that Price continue his arguments, but avoid mentioning the merits of the case.
During cross-examination, Coetzee confirmed that Hewitt was aware his wife had written vulgar insults about the complainants in her own written notes during the trial - as seen and reported by the media.
She argued that this showed a decided lack of remorse by Hewitt and his wife, but Bam told the State this was also irrelevant. Coetzee noted that the conviction had led to considerable public outcry over Hewitt's behaviour.
Delaille Hewitt was then brought to the stand. In a written statement, she told the court that the day she heard about the allegations against her husband was also the day she went for her first chemotherapy treatment for ovarian cancer.
Since that day in August 2011, she said the couple's health had seriously deteriorated.
She described the media coverage around the allegations as a "feeding frenzy" and said that her family had been stalked at their family farm and in other public spaces by photographers.
"The press found him guilty from that moment (when the allegations were revealed," she said.
She began sobbing as she said that the adversity had been "unbearable" and that her children had been humiliated.
Delaille insisted that she, her family and those close to the family would never believe the allegations.
"I've never had to beg before, but I am asking your lordship from the bottom of my heart to please let Bob return with me to the farm," she pleaded through tears.
During closing arguments, Price asked that Hewitt's age and state of health be considered in the sentencing. He said that even if Hewitt had the inclination towards sexual abuse, he was no longer a threat to his community.
Coetzee argued that regardless of whether Hewitt was convicted during the 80s or 90s when the incidents took place, the court would still have to consider the public's outrage towards child abuse.
She also insisted that even if Hewitt could not re-offend, a strong sentence would be a deterrent to future sexual offenders.