Johannesburg - A self-confessed child rapist has changed his plea on numerous charges against him yet again, with a woman and children’s rights group monitoring the case, accusing him of trying to delay proceedings.
The 36-year-old taxi driver was caught raping a minor in his Toyota Avanza in the Marlboro Cemetery in Joburg. He had threatened to kill the child and forced her into his car, while she was on her way to school in September last year.
But in his numerous appearances in the Alexandra Magistrate’s Court, he has changed his plea at least three times.
When he was initially asked to plead, he said he was guilty of the rape charge against the minor whom he was caught raping. However, he insisted he was not guilty of raping two other children whom he was linked to by DNA evidence.
At the next appearance, he then decided to plead guilty on all three charges, but on Friday, he changed his verdict to a not-guilty plea across the board. On Monday, he appeared in court again, and reverted back to his original single guilty plea.
The case had originally been delayed due to a lack of legal representation for the driver, but he has now been assigned a lawyer from Legal Aid South Africa. A pre-trial meeting was set down for Thursday, but the trial itself will probably only continue early next year.
Women and Men Against Child Abuse have expressed outrage at the driver for changing his plea so often, and wasting the court’s time.
Director Miranda Friedmann said they had expressed their hope to the prosecutor that the taxi driver’s guilty plea not be a mitigating factor in his sentencing. She said they had hoped he would still receive a life sentence for each count of rape.
“This case must go on without further delay. It will be the fourth time the accused is changing legal representation,” she said.
“The driver admitting guilt means the three children did not have to appear in court and testify but because the plea has changed, they will have to shoulder the trauma of seeing their attacker and testifying,” Friedmann added.
The Star