Wait for ‘Modimolle Monster’

ZELDA VENTER

THE TRIAL of the so-called Modimolle Monster, Johan Kotze, and his three co-accused was postponed yesterday to April 15.

He and his three co-accused – Andries Sithole, Pieta Mohlane and Frans Mphara – briefly appeared in the Pretoria High Court, where Judge Bert Bam was told that the trial could not proceed due to a number of reasons.

The only reason mentioned in court was that Kotze’s lawyer, Bernard Bantjes, was also involved with the Boeremag trial.

Judge Bam said the trial would proceed in April and would start an hour earlier than usual and continue for a week or two, until it had been disposed of.

He also gave permission that Kotze be transferred back to a prison in Bloemfontein, where he is consulting a psychiatrist, before taking the stand in his defence.

Bantjes earlier disputed a report brought out by three psychologists after Kotze was sent to Weskoppies Hospital for evaluation. He said more tests should be done to establish if there were any factors that could have contributed to Kotze’s frame of mind during the time when his then wife, Ina Bonnette, was attacked.

Kotze contends that he was not accountable for his alleged crimes due to his frame of mind at the time. Bantjes said Kotze had to be further evaluated by another panel of experts.

In April, the State will call back a medical doctor who is an expert on sexual assault injuries, as she still has to be questioned by counsel for Mohlane and Mphara.

Dr Susanna Grabe testified earlier that the fact that a victim did not have injuries to her private parts did not mean that she had not been raped.

The State claimed that Kotze had forced his three co-accused to rape Bonnette, from whom he was estranged at the time. They said they pretended to rape her, as they feared for their lives, and never penetrated her.

The State is also expected to call the doctor who treated Bonnette in hospital after she was allegedly raped and severely assaulted.

Kotze and his co-accused have pleaded not guilty to murder, attempted murder and rape.

The murder charge followed the death of Bonnette’s 19-year-old son Conrad, who was shot dead in a room adjacent to where Bonnette was allegedly being raped.