Durban - A KwaZulu-Natal businessman who allegedly repeatedly raped his 17-year-old daughter, and inserted a heated spear into her genitals as punishment after he found her in a closed toilet with a boy, is making a bid for bail.
Testifying in the Pietermaritzburg Magistrate’s Court on Thursday, the 37-year-old father denied that he had raped or assaulted his daughter.
His name is being withheld to protect the identity of the complainant, whom he is alleged to have raped several times since August last year.
This was only reported to the police in January after the man allegedly used a spear, heated on a fire.
The girl also suffered burns to her stomach and inner thighs.
It is alleged that on the night of January 5, the father found his daughter in a toilet with a boy at their local church.
The boy fled, and the father allegedly decided to punish his daughter.
It is alleged that he then made a fire, heated the spear on it, and burnt her.
The girl managed to escape and ran to her neighbour’s house for help. She was later taken to the hospital.
However, the accused said during his bail application on Thursday that after he had caught her doing something wrong, she was well aware that she would be punished, and had run away on the night of January 5.
“When I discovered that my daughter was missing, my fiancée and I began searching for her well into the early hours of the morning.
“Nothing was more important to me than finding my daughter,” he said.
The man said that he later received a telephone call from his neighbour, a police officer, informing him that his daughter was injured and was going to be taken to hospital.
“I did not believe at that stage that she was really injured. When she left the house she had no injuries.
“I thought she was making up a story to escape being punished because she knew she was in trouble,” the man said.
The State is alleging that if released on bail, the man would threaten and intimidate his daughter into withdrawing the case.
It is also alleged that the man threatened his daughter even while in prison, and had people approach his daughter in an attempt to bribe her into withdrawing the charges.
The accused had also allegedly threatened the lives of his neighbours, who are State witnesses.
The man denied this under cross-examination, saying that he had not threatened anyone, least of all his daughter, who he had not spoken to since the night of the alleged incident.
Describing his relationship with his daughter prior to her alleged assault, the man said that it was “beautiful and wonderful”.
“My daughter’s mother is dead, and I have raised her by myself since she was 3 years old,” he said.
The bail application has been adjourned to Monday.
Daily News